The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-11-23
MANY REFLECTIONS IN
LIFE INSURANCE

permanently rejected. Such IS the
ratio determined by a comprehensive
study Of the subject of reflections re-
Gently undertaken BY THE Insurance
Press.
The cooperation Of all life insurance
companies operating in the country
was sought and replies were received
from companies controlllngsoyer 80 per
cent of the total life insurance IN
force.
Accordingly the statistics Of these
companies may be safely considered as
/ fully representative of the rejection
experience in American life underwrit-
ing.
Eleven per cent Of all applications
for life insurance are declined. Fur
tbermore nowadays the rejection stamp
is not applied by a company until It's
entire stock of policies has been con-
sidered in the hope Of tindlng some
thing to ft Despite the opinion OF
disappointed agents that their compan-
les turn down gilt-edge business merely
because the applicants color OF hair
does not conform to the chromatic
standard Of the medical director, a
rejection receives more study and costs
more money than an approval.
That is logical. A rejection repre-
sents waste waste of time by the
solicitor, waste of thought and expense
by the company, and loss Of revenue
to both. A half million dollars at the
least estimate in acutal cash outlay
far examinations and inspections. 1t
NAV be argued that this expenditure
should not be designated as waste, but
as preventative remedy against an
immediate attack of impaired risks.
We leave that question to theorists.
The practical fact is patent that a
half-million dollars was paid out in one
year by companies on worthless goods
from an insurance standpoint.
Accordingly every possible effort IS
made to avoid a fiat rejection. To
reduce the waste, various methods
have been devised for the insuring OF
under-average lives. Applications,
that formerly were declined outright,
are now approved. subject to various
notifications. The introduction OF
sub-standard policies in recent years
has enabled thousands who previously
would have been fatty denied, to
obtain life insurance in some form.
Sub-standard insurance represents sal
wage from the early waste in life
underwriting
But Notwithstanding this salvage,
one applicant in nine is permanently
rejected. Even after sorting the
specked and spotted fruit into sub.
standard boxes, there is eleven pei
cent of the life insurance crops Sc
decayed and worm eaten that It is left
to die on the ground.
Ia 1908, American companies de
cIined 80, 100 applications. Assuming
that these applications were for the
amount of the average policy in force
81, 922. the aggregate life insurance
rejected last year was over $3.50, 600.
600. Practically 100, 600 lives, offering
nearly 5000, 600, 600 of business Il
American companies, were condemned
as utterly unfit. As much new insur
ance was discarded in 1908 as was
issued twenty odd years ago.
On every working day of the year
approximately $780, 600 insurance il
denied to applicants, to the majority o.
whom for the first time comes the
knowledge that they must carry a risl
too great for the life insurance com
pany to assume. Some rejected appli
cants hide their chagrin and alarm
undera cloak of Indifference or anger
but every being capable of human
emotion experiences a secret shoe
when he learns that he is an outcast.
Death is nearer to him than to tn
normal man; otherwise the insuranc
companies would accept him. He |
the marked man out of nine. Tn
same mark is stamped upon 100. 90
lives every year.
: Reflections, although not entirel
preventaDle, are to a large degre
reducibe by the applicant himself
While the true ratio will never b
known, it is the belief among thought
full underwriters that the majority G
| candidates for life insurance coul
have passed the examination if the
had applied sooner. The chief caus
of reflections is delay. Most indiviC
uals have their opportunity to insure
There is a period in their lives whe
they could present clean bill e
health. There is also point of trans
ition when all lives pass from tn
acceptable into the undesirable class.
Just as the uncertainty of life is til
Fundamental argument for life insul
ance, so is the uncertainty of healt
the corollary urging its early procur,
ment. With some individuals deveIol
ment continues far into middle life
IN others deterioration begins at a
early age. The time to insure is
the ascent of life not after the SUNNI
is passed and the descent has begun.
Further, one leading cause for rejet
tion is beyond the applicants contro
i. e., family history. A geneaog
showing consumption, cancer, insanit,
etc, has deprived thousands of live
of the insurance they sought. FIR,
quently this faint in the family histor
occurs after an APPLICANT has attaine
an insurable age and condition. Up |
that time his family record would be
recommendation of him as a risk
afterward it becomes an insuperab
obstacle. For the death of parent {
a brother or sister may bring down
rejection upon an applicant. Accort
ingly, an individual IN viewing lii
insurance must consider not only I'll
uncertainty of death, and the unce
tainty Of his own health. but the III
certainty of the cause of death in h
family.
Another black mailing factor is I'll
applicants disproportionate height ar
weight. Men do not grow fat or lea
all of sudden. They swell or shrin
gradually, Applicants are far MOI
| likely to conform to the normal stant
ard in their early prime After a
the waistbaud may possibly cause MOI
reflections than the lungs. Nor shou
the question Of hahits he nuerlnnknl