It’s a WE thing
This case started way back in September.
Of Two Thousand Eighteen.
Gas was $2 a gallon. Pet Rocks were all the rage. And Gena Wallis of Wallis Employee Benefits in Palo Alto—who is an absolute ROCK STAR—requested a quote for some Key Man coverage to support a “recently completed Series B funding round”.
We love these cases—the buyer is motivated, and the time frame is limited. The Face Amount was $1M, the gentleman was young, and as far as we knew, healthy.
Gena remained in close contact with the Proposed Insured’s firm, but the meeting was postponed, again and again, until April 2019. Then we finally got an application.
During the underwriting process:
- We couldn’t find his medical records. That’s because, while he told us he’d been to the MD in 2017, he really hadn’t been since 2014.
- He rescheduled his initial exam 5 times.
- Blood Pressure was taken, but the exam questions weren’t asked.
- The BP readings (182/132) on his insurance labs rendered a Declination from Carrier A.
- A couple months later, he did a BP recheck, and the readings were much better.
- We shopped the case with all of his readings, and found some possibilities (with a substantial rating).
- The client relocated to Austin, Texas. I mean, of course he did.
- He returned to CA for a week in September, so APPS—Susie Smith at APPS is also a ROCK STAR—scheduled yet another exam and BP recheck.
- He cancelled.
- He rescheduled, in Austin, for October 28th.
- Susie discovered that the original BP readings were done with the wrong type of machine, so APPS went back and got accurate readings. Twice. She also wrote a letter to the carrier.
- We enjoyed Halloween. And Thanksgiving.
- He was declined again.
- Come to find out, the underwriter had not seen Susie’s letter (which we’d sent twice).
- On December 18—more than a year later—we got an offer.
- Earlier this month, we put the policy in force.
It’s a WE thing. Kudos to Farrel at HD Mooers, Susie Smith at APPS, and mostly GENA WALLIS of Wallis Employee Benefits for seeing this one all the way through.
