How to Insure Your Income: Stricter Underwriting

Underwriting is the place where insurance companies can start to control claims expenses. Frequently, the underwriting of disability income for professionals has not been very tight. In an effort to obtain a large share of the supposedly desirable market, underwriting became as liberal as the policies being sold.

Stress, mental and nervous disorders must be serious underwriting considerations. And there are others. Historically, back problems have resulted in a major problem in obtaining disability income coverage. Insurance pros say that a bad back seldom improves. They need to remember this when they're interviewing lawyers and doctors.

And the same attitude may need to be taken with regard to stress and nervous disorders. A person's history of these problems should be closely reviewed.

Disability income insurers traditionally have refused to write coverage for air traffic controllers. The reason -- the early onset of stress, and subsequent early medical retirement. The air traffic controller's working environment is a daily eight-hour shift with high stress. Frequently, after only 10 years or so on the job, an air traffic controller is forced to retire -- due to stress-related health problems. Perhaps a similar approach needs to be implemented with regard to other high-stress professional occupations.