Attending Physician's Statement (APS) ****

MR. WATSON: The insurance company may also request an Attending Physician's Statement (APS) from your doctor if the company is concerned with a specific medical condition. So the doctor sends the file to the insurance company. Insurance company's underwriters go through this report to investigate past medical conditions and any information contained in this report can be sent by the insurance company to the M.I.B. But, you must give your written permission for this to happen.

MR. WATSON:  Let’s say you have an applicant who tells you, “I used to have cancer, but I don’t have it anymore.  I’m all clear.”  The company is going to ask for the APS, they’re not going to take the applicant’s word for it.  And they ask this on the test.  The company could also ask for a medical exam, but the medical exam is not going to diagnose if you currently have cancer. So we ask for the APS. We want your doctor to tell us when you had it, when you got the all clear, what was the treatment, when you were last tested, that kind of thing. Make sense?

MR. WATSON: You, as the agent, do not get involved. The company will notify his doctor. (Magic Johnson found out he had HIV through an insurance application and the company immediately notified his doctor.)

STUDENT: It goes to the doctors. So they don't notify you, the agent. They notify the doctor.

MR. WATSON: Correct!

 

Special Questionnaires ***

MR. WATSON: I'm asking Lebanon some questions on his life insurance application, about his health and everything else. Do you scuba dive? Do you fly?

MAN: Yes.

MR. WATSON: The interview comes to a halt. The company wants more information. I go to my briefcase and I pull out a special questionnaire . Maybe an aviation questionnaire. Do you fly a fixed wing? Is it rotor? Is it a jet? Do you do loops? How many seats does it have? How many hours do you fly? Does that make sense?

STUDENT: Yes.

MR. WATSON: If he scuba dives, I pull out a special questionnaire. We want more in-depth information. What we really want to know is does he go in caves, spelunking? How deep does he go? We will insure scuba divers, but not if they go in caves.

MR. WATSON: Where in the application will we find out how many hours a pilot has logged? From the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) or the aviation questionnaire?

STUDENTS: Aviation questionnaire.

MR. WATSON: Very good. It's the aviation questionnaire. FAA doesn't know anything as far as you're concerned.

MR. WATSON: Special questionnaires. The most common type of questionnaire is the aviation questionnaire.

 

Inspection Reports ***

MR. WATSON: Inspection report . Third party reports. Ever heard of Equifax?

STUDENTS: Yes.

MR. WATSON: They might drive out to your house, call your neighbors. They might come to your business. Only if the policy is large enough. We want to know what kind of guy he is. The purpose is to find out about his general character & reputation, mode of living, finances, etc... Does that make sense?

 

Credit Reports

MR. WATSON: All right, credit report . Why would we do a credit report? Could a credit report show a bad moral hazard?

STUDENTS: Yes.

MR. WATSON: Some people get a credit card, and they think they've had an increase in pay. Right? The insurance company also wants to make sure the applicant can afford to pay the premiums.