Can I get life insurance with a more hazardous job?
[social_share]There are many jobs that are classified as being dangerous occupations, and in many cases life insurance companies will be wary about covering people who hold such positions.
It can, therefore, be quite difficult for people in such employment to find suitable life insurance, which can result in a great deal of anxiety and stress.
Many mainstream life insurers will tend only to cover what they regard to be standard risks, which means that they will avoid people who are over a certain age, have had a particularly poor health history or are in dangerous jobs.
Dangerous jobs are usually classified as those manual jobs that have very high accident rates. This includes many outdoor occupations, such as forestry or quarrying, but it can also include mining and many industrial occupations that have high accident rates. Recently such classifications have widened to include those jobs that expose a person to long term health problems, such as involvement with asbestos or dangerous chemicals, or roles that have high rates of mental burn out – which can include many sales and trading occupations.
Many professional associations, employers and unions are aware that this can be a difficult and stressful issue for their members and employees, which has resulted in a number of affiliate products becoming available exclusively to their members. These tend to be arranged in association with a specialist insurer who will be able to take account of the risks involved in a specific occupation. They also tend to have some lower costs as the marketing and administrative costs can be lower for these policies.
Some life insurance providers who are willing to deal with applicants in dangerous employment will advertise in the professional magazines or union journals which cater specifically for these occupations.
In some cases it may be a good idea to approach a life insurance broker who knows the market well and will be able to explore many life insurance options, including some of the more obscure companies who do not tend to promote themselves extensively on the open market. This will mean that they may have a good idea of where the best deals are for even the most unusual cases. This can save a considerable amount of money, which can be as much as four or five times the broker’s fee.
