Gerber Life Can I Keep my Child's Policy

[goillini52]

Simple answer if it was me. The kid doesn't even need to know they have the policy until you feel they are ready. You keep paying the premium. "Technically" they would be the owner, but if they don't know they have it...you still keep control until you feel the time is right.

As for the ADHD, I kinda agree...that is not typically a serious issue.

Also, how much cash value could there be in a Gerber child policy at this point in time?

 

[///MJay]

1. ADD/ADHD does NOT cause one to lose their insurability. I have ADD/ADHD (whatever they're calling it these days) and I've never had an issue getting coverage due to that. (I am a little on the edge of the height/weight build tables, so I do need to work on that.)

2. What medication is he on? Is he compliant with the medication? This was what ///mjay was referring to.

Now, sometimes some doctors won't prescribe the RIGHT medications for ADD/ADHD because they simply don't know any better, OR their medical group won't allow them to prescribe the proper medication because it is classified as a narcotic. So, if you have a DIFFERENT medication - and often anti-depressants are prescribed, that may be causing an issue in underwriting.

For me personally, Ritalin works just fine for me - 20mg in the morning and 10mg in the afternoon. If I were to get blood work done, it would show up in my blood stream. Ritalin is a narcotic, so it is prescribed once a month on secure prescription pads.

There are many other medications - adderall, concerta, and a bunch of other ones. I've still never heard of an underwriting issue solely based on ADD/ADHD and being compliant with proper medication.


As far as spendthrift issues are concerned, with just about every insurance company (Gerber does things uniquely), you can own an insurance policy on someone else as long as there is an insurable risk relationship at the time of application.

----------

I'm looking at an impairment underwriting guide from Assurity Life for ADD/ADHD and it says:

- Mild, no behavioral symptoms, school age and up - 0-T4 ('0' meaning not rated down to table 4 for underwriting)
- More severe - T6-decline

I don't know what "more severe" would look like, aside from perhaps a very strong medication or something in the medical file.

This is exactly what I was getting at. The ADHD should not be a decline on its own. Or the medication is a red flag for something more serious and the agent didn't do a very good job of making your case to the carrier. I would say reach out to someone here in private message and have a detailed conversation about the situation. Discuss the medical and the long term goals. I don't have any issues with Gerber, I have them in my bag, but that might not be accomplishing your goals as well as you hoped when you took it. Any agent on here worth a hill of beans should prescreen these things and have a good idea where things are going to fall before you apply. I would be curious how the decline letter was worded. Contact them and ask them specifically what caused the decline. It could have been bad information or mix up in medical records. Good luck.

 

[TampaHound]

It is quite difficult to know what a person with head issues might do. Cold logic and emotional reaction are two different things. He's concerned about the kid going on a tear and cashing in the policy. I would suspect that is a very real possibility.

Good point. I misunderstood the question. Thanks for the clarification.