Life Insurance

[PaulB]

BTW - any idea how WW kayaking ranks in the insurance companies' hierarchy o' risk? It's always felt way more risky than climbing to me, and I'd be curious to know if the insurance companies feel the same way.

None of the underwriting questionnaires I've seen have asked about WW paddling. Climbing, SCUBA diving, flying, auto racing, hang/para gliding and sky diving seem to be the things that worry them.

 

I too often feel more at risk when I'm paddling a river than when I'm climbing, but that's probably because I'm a better climber than I am a paddler.

[rbw1966]

Insurance companies stack the deck in their favor. There is no 'silver bullet' to getting covered in case of death while climbing to help you avoid outrageous rates.

 

There are basically two things you can do:

 

1. Pay for the rider which covers climbing, which as someone else pointed out will set you back. A lot. (Unless you can find a company that will cover you even with your climbing-related activities. There are a couple out there but good luck finding them).

 

2. Lie.

 

And just to be clear, NOT telling them about climbing is what they call in the biz a "material omission" that will likely void the policy UNLESS two years pass without them catching it. Thats the crux right there: any omissions or misrepresentations you make have to be caught by the insurance company within two years of the policy effective date or they are screwed, but you are golden.

 

Be warned though that when you apply for life insurance, you sign a medical release allowing them access to your medical records. If you have been treated for a climbing-related injury and its reflected in the medical records they will find out. If they bust you in a lie, they will cancel the policy/refuse you insurance and enter you into a NATIONAL database. Then you are effectively screwed.

 

I am not advocating any dishonesty whatsoever. Sometimes we forget things when filling out the application/questionnaire which is why those inaccuracies are only material for the first two years.

[Ed_Seedhouse]

And just to be clear, NOT telling them about climbing is what they call in the biz a "material omission" that will likely void the policy UNLESS two years pass without them catching it.

 

Hmmm... wouldn't count on the two years. It has been more than 30 since I worked in the paying out end of a Life Insurance Company, and it was a Canadian company, but back then if we found a material ommission we'd void the policy long past the two year date. Point being that if you lied about something material the contract never existed, and we refunded your premiums plus interest.

 

Of course if your beneficiary sued we'd usually pay out a few thousand more just to shut them up.

 

Things may have changed a lot in 30 years, though.

[RichardKorry]

Pre-kids I climbed alot. I ran into this insurance climbing nonsense while trying to get a short term policy to cover a 6 month vacation that included lots of climbing. Post kids I got a policy since I was able to truthfully say I hadn't been climbing for two years. I've restarted climbing and wanted to get another policy but found having climbing (and reaching 50) really jacked up the prices.

 

I found Steve Kobrin on the web (he's located in NJ) and he was able to get me a policy that was 1/2 the price I was being quoted through local agents. It's still not as cheap as not climbing but it was much more reasonable. I've seen his add in the climbing rags as well. Although he is an insurance agent (i.e. he will try to convince you to buy as much insurance as possible) I found him easy to work with and he got me the goods so no complaints.

 

Regarding lying - if you had a big policy the insurance company will certainly spend a little money to see if they can legally not pay you by voiding your policy. Insurance investigators will do this for fires (could this have been arson?), etc. It's in their financial interest to do a minimum of reseach.

 

You might have luck trying to get them to explicitly paying out for climbing accidents. I tried that but didn't find any interest. You might try bringing skiis along on anything you do so you can call it "ski mountaineering" not "climbing".

[Dechristo]

You might try bringing skiis along on anything you do so you can call it "ski mountaineering" not "climbing".

 

I've miniature bindings mounted on two pickets for this reason.