| A great thing happened to the life insurance buying | | | | Don't assume you're uninsurable if you have health |
| public in the year 2002, the industry switched over to | | | | problems. Hartford Life Insurance Company has |
| new "Mortality tables" (also referred to as Life | | | | lowered the annual premiums for women who have |
| Expectancy Tables). This means that the cost of life | | | | been treated for stage-1 breast cancer and men who |
| insurance in the last 5 years has substantially been | | | | have been treated for prostate cancer, been |
| reduced. | | | | operated on and have a good prognosis. Prudential |
| An insurance premium is made up of three basic | | | | Insurance Company announced its lowering premiums |
| components: | | | | for people who have been successfully treated for |
| 1. Life Expectancy (How many years you're going to | | | | heart disease. Prudential Financial lowered premiums |
| live) | | | | for prostate cancer survivors several years ago, and |
| 2. Insurance company expenses (Costs of doing | | | | it recently reduced rates for survivors of breast and |
| business) | | | | bladder cancer, says Mike McFarland, a vice president |
| 3. Insurance company yield on investments | | | | at Prudential. |
| So, when your life expectancy increases, the | | | | Though insurance companies have reduced rates you |
| company can expect to keep getting your annual | | | | must shop around. If you're healthy, you still may not |
| premium for many more years giving them more | | | | qualify for the best rates. If one of your parents |
| money to invest for a longer period of time with the | | | | suffered from a serious illness at an early age, or if |
| projection that there will be less deaths (money to | | | | you smoke you won't get the best rates. |
| pay out in death claims) leaving more money available | | | | On a typical term policy, getting the lowest rate on |
| to invest. | | | | premiums could save you $100 to $250 a year. |
| This one factor alone has substantially reduced the | | | | Standards for preferred rates vary among insurers. |
| annual cost of life insurance premiums. | | | | Average annual rates for a 40-year-old non-smoker |
| Another factor in the cost of insurance is your health. | | | | who buys a $500,000 10 Year Term Life policy with |
| With the new advances in medicine, people are living | | | | preferred rates since 1994: |
| longer due to earlier detection of problems and | | | | 1996 $660 - 1998 $515 - 2000 $480 |
| state-of-the-art drugs keeping these problems under | | | | 2002 $395 - 2004 $375 - 2006 $352 |
| control. These advances are making it possible for | | | | Don't you think it's time to have your current life |
| insurance companies to have more lenient | | | | insurance policies reviewed? |
| underwriting, further reducing the annual premium | | | | Remember, Life is Getting Cheaper! |
| cost of your life insurance. | | | | |