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Official Or an Of The Sla vonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas. Founded 1897. BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 54 — NO. 5
HUMANITY
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: P2ease Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to; SUPREME LODCE, SP3ST, P. 0. Box 100, TEMPLE, TEXAS
FEBRUARY 2, 1966
FROM 11:1,] EDITOR'S DESK YOUR HEALTH AFFECTS YOUR LIFE INSURANCE RATES Your health is the most important consideration in determining whether you can buy life insurance at standard rates. Even if your company doesn't require a full medical examination before issuing you a policy, you can be sure that they've taken a long, hard look at your past and present state of health. Several health-related factors are considered by most of the nation's more than 1,500 life insurance companies to estimate the risk they will take by issuing you a policy. Each of these health factors requires a great deal of subjective judgment on the part of the medical examiner and the insurance company. But each does offer you and the company a fair guide to evaluating your present and prospective health. Your own body build has become increasingly important to insurance companies. Extensive studies have consistently suggested a direct relationship between overweight and shorter life expectancy. Underweight, however, is of little significance unless it is caused by a disease. Your general physical condition is of great importance, too. Many companies now evaluate the physical appearance of the applicant, as testified to by the examiner, the insurance salesman, and even friends and neighbors. If you look
FOR ME, MY WORK IS BEST . . . Let me but do my work from day to day In field or forest, desk or loom, In roaring market-place, or tranquil room. Let me but find it in my heart to say, When fragrant wishes beckon me astray, This is my work, my blessing, not my doom: Of all who live I am one by whom This work can best be done in my own way, To suit my spirit and to prove my powers; Then shall I cheerfully greet the laboring hours And cheerful turn when the long shadows fall At eventide, to play, and love, and rest, Because I know for me my work is best. —Henry van Dyke unusually pale, ill, or peaked, most companies will suspect an underlying medical cause, Family history — Something you can do little about — is becoming less, important as a medical factor in the insurance field. With vastly improved diagnostic, surgical, and treatment techniques, many illnesses previously considered "hereditary" can now be effectively controlled. But some f am-
ily-history items are still closely examined by most companies. If your family has a long history of heart ailments, for instance, and you also are overweight, you may be rated a much higher-than-standard risk on that factor. Personal habits and morals are always examined to be sure that the company is not assuming an unusually high risk in underwriting a policy. Heavy drinkers, for example, are frowned upon, though they aren't always charged higher premiums. o Your occupation, at first glance, may seem unrelated to health. But whenever an insurance company has reason to suspect that your job may endanger your health, they will examine it with care. People whose work involves dust, poisons, abnormalities in air pressure, excessive humidity, defective illumination, infectious diseases, or radiant energy are usually considered poor underwriting risks. Your avocational interests are also frequently checked to be certain you have no unusually dangerous hobbies — such as snake charming or sky diving. For private pilots, standard rates usually are available after a certain amount of actual experience as a pilot. has been obtained — perhaps 200 hours — and if no more than 125 or 150 hours are flown each year. A small