Evening journal., 1901-11-09
TO OBTAIN LIFE INSURANCE
Is NOW AN EASY MATTER

There is a saying current in life in
surance circles to the effect that moth
ing but an autopsy makes a man ineli-
gible for life insurance today. Only
few years ago list of the ineligible
was a long one and a host of occupa-
tions shut men out from insurance,
while hereditary disease or symptoms
Of serious chronic ailment were isur-
mountable bars Now. there is just
one profession to whose followers an
insurance policy is inevitably denied,
even by the most liberal companies.
The submarine diver must go unin-
sured. He enjoys the rather pressing
distinction of belonging to the only
profession which is considered too haz-
ardous for even the most elastic sub
standard risk"
Before 1896 he had plenty of COM
Dany. Now firemen, harbor pilots,
policemen, engineers glassblOwers,
men in the life saving service, bar
ltenders-all those who lead the siren
ucus life and court an untimely end,
are taken, fguratively speaking, to the
bosom Of the insurance companies
Naturally the terms of their policies
differ as the problematical, danger Of
their occupation varies. In several of
the larger companies, the electrical
lineman is considered the biggest risk
for whom a policy is written. but, if
he is willing to agree to the company's s.
terms, he can get his insurance.
The scale upon which these terms are
adjusted differs in the various COM
panies. The company which was the
first to adopt the sub-standard policy,
and is now the most far reaching in the
carrying out of that policy adjusts the
extra risk penalty by means of a lien
on the policy. The man insured pays
no larger premium than he would un-
der ordinary circumstances. but the
agreement into which he enters pro-
yides that if he dies within year, the
lamOunt of his policy is cut down by
the amount which represents the extra
risk in his case If he lives two years,
less is subtracted When he has, so
to speak. outlived the amount of the
lien. his disability is wiped out and he
has his full policy at regular rates
Other companies arrange the matter by
writing the policy at the risk rate OF a
certain considerable advance in years
In the matter of physical disability
things have changed as radically as in
the matter of professional disability
The medical examination is las severe as
ever. and to obtain a regular policy a
man must pass this examination, but
a physical condition which. five years
ago, would have made it impossible foi
a man to obtain insurance. now merely
means that he must secure sub.
standard policy. He can get his insur-
ance if he is willing to pay literally fol
the extra risk the company is taking
lOf course there is a limit to this posi-
bility. Men over 60 years of age ar,
seldom insured unless conditions ar,
exceptional and The thing is. considered
a gilt edged risk Men in the mos
. advanced stages Of chronic disease
whose lease of life can be defnitel,
, determined as short. are, of course
debarred from insurance. But serious
chronic disease in it's earlier stage
does not mean rejection.
The insurance companies studied sta
: tistics in regard to disease and NOR
b tality until they satisfied themselve,
: that they were turning away goo'
T money on an illogical assumption
They found that a man may have veal
e lungs or kidney trouble or trouble
2 some heart at %. and die of mumps o
t measles at 60 Statistics for a certail
e number Of years showed that the mum
e Der of deaths among the rejected wa
s not so large in proportion as the mum
j Der among the accepted.
q 1T isn't the sick men who die" sal
prominent official of one of the in
I surance companies to a reporter
e There was never anything truer tina,
t the old saying that creaking doc
- is long on its hinges The man VIII
has something wrong with him usual
takes better care of himsel than tn
j man with a fine constitution does. H
Il isn't taking chances, and unless hi
disease is one bound to progress rapid
he's likely to live forever. We have I