AOPA Life Insurance is a joke!

TomHaines said:
Orange, please PM me your name, address, and email. I've been talking to our insurance staff about this. AOPA does not offer any insurance products that exclude aviation.

I will put you in touch with the right people at AOPA to sort it out. There is a miscommunication or misunderstanding somewhere in here that can be sorted out. Thanks, Tom.
Click to expand...

And it's responses like those that make things a bit better
 
Gerhardt said:
I figured you'd be along to get to the bottom of this. Of course, it took you a couple of days. If Claire was still running things... :)
Click to expand...

Hey, there's no reason that an insurance customer should be able to post a beef on some online forum and expect his agent to detect that event and respond, much less to do so immediately.

I think Tom's response is appropriate and timely. Impressive, even.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
Ok, so here's a thought. If you have adequate life insurance through work, and are just looking to buy coverage for your accidental death in an airplane, why not just purchase AD&D coverage ...
Click to expand...

I'm uncertain whether my employer's AD&D policy from Zurich covers me, if I am the pilot of my plane (which is not experimental). Policy excerpt:

Insurance provided under the Policy includes Injury sustained while the Covered Person is riding as a passenger in or on, boarding or alighting from (1) any civilian aircraft having a current and valid standard category airworthiness certificate, and operated by a pilot holding a current and valid medical certificate and pilot certificate with appropriate ratings for the flight involved as required by the Federal Aviation Administration or by the similar authority of any duly constituted government, having jurisdiction over civil aviation or (2) any transport-type of aircraft operated by the Armed Forces of the United States of America or the Armed Forces of any foreign government.
 
I got life insurance through them and didn't have any issues with it. I'm in the process of applying to another company (American General) because they had better rates but at least I am covered for now.

My only complaint about AOPA's policy is they call it a term policy but since it's group coverage they can go change the rate any time they want. I would rather have an individual plan that has the price locked in for the term.
 
Lindberg said:
I've read it very carefully. Specifically this part:



So the OP got his policy. It didn't say anything about aviation. It was a "standard non-tobacco policy," which means that aviation is not excluded. So the OP received exactly what he wanted, and he even got a lower premium than he expected because he qualified for a preferred, rather than standard rate. It looks like the agent he worked with might not have explained to him how the insurance would come out. So he was confused and called a general 800 number which may have nothing to do with AOPA, and his question got routed to an underwriter who looked at the app again, saw GA activities and did what they usually do, reissued the policy with a GA exclusion.

I have several life-insurance policies purchased at various points in my life. The only ones that mention general aviation mention it as an exclusion. The ones that I obtained while I wasn't actively flying don't mention it at all. Those will pay in the event of my death in a GA accident. Notably, these life-insurance policies also don't mention cancer, heart disease, car accidents, or dismemberment in a freak slip 'n slide accident. But they'll pay out for death by any of those causes too.

It can be confusing, because you might expect every policy to come with a full list of exclusions. But that isn't how they work. The exclusions you get on your policy will be based on your current situation as reflected in your application. If your situation changes later, the insurance company doesn't really care. That's all just built in to the life-expectancy tables.

Bottom line, it appears the OP was confused because he was expecting the policy through AOPA to expressly cover GA activities, not realizing that by not excluding GA it was covered.

In a later post, he says that the policy excluded aviation, which is different from not saying anything about aviation. Hence my comment about the story changing. Without seeing the policy, we can't really say what was in it, we have to go by what we're told.
Click to expand...
To clear up YOUR confusion,
I applied for the policy 2 months ago. I received said policy. There was no mention of aviation coverage (which I WANT to see explicitly stated, I'm not big on "if it doesn't exclude it, you're fine"). I specifically asked the guy I applied with to make sure aviation coverage is included since many policies (including my work policy) exclude it. He said it would be more but it would be explicitly stated as an add-on. It wasn't there when I received it. Also, the premium was about half of what they quoted me on the phone. That made me suspicious.

That's when I called ReliaStar insurance 800 number to see what's up. The rep who spoke with me told me that aviation add-on was NOT included and this was a standard "preferred non-tobacco... blah blah blah" policy. She was very nice and said that they would have to contact the underwriter and re-issue it with the correct coverage. I was told to disregard what I had received.

A week later, I get a letter saying that "they are NOT able to offer me the policy that I applied for for the reason specified below: AVIATION. This decision was based on the following: Aviation Questionnaire (on the questionnaire it asks what certificates you hold)" It also said that I could accept their offer of the standard policy they sent me earlier. That was all the letter said.

I called the 800 back (with exact extension) and spoke to the same nice lady who helped me before. She asked me to scan and send her the letter so she can review it. She got back to me the next day saying that I was denied because I was a student pilot.

Earlier today, I got a call from another rep at ReliaStar who repeated what she told me about the student pilot thing and apparently they are now willing to offer me a policy but for only 5 year term and also at triple the premium (about $100/month instead of $34).

I hope that clears up the confusion you had. If you are still not clear PM me, since I don't think anybody else wants to read anymore about this.

I sent Tom Haines my info so hopefully I can get to the bottom of this. I hope to be ready for my checkride in about a month so maybe I'll just wait to re-apply.
 
orange said:
To clear up YOUR confusion,
I applied for the policy 2 months ago. I received said policy. There was no mention of aviation coverage (which I WANT to see explicitly stated, I'm not big on "if it doesn't exclude it, you're fine"). I specifically asked the guy I applied with to make sure aviation coverage is included since many policies (including my work policy) exclude it. He said it would be more but it would be explicitly stated as an add-on. It wasn't there when I received it. Also, the premium was about half of what they quoted me on the phone. That made me suspicious.

That's when I called ReliaStar insurance 800 number to see what's up. The rep who spoke with me told me that aviation add-on was NOT included and this was a standard "preferred non-tobacco... blah blah blah" policy. She was very nice and said that they would have to contact the underwriter and re-issue it with the correct coverage. I was told to disregard what I had received.

A week later, I get a letter saying that "they are NOT able to offer me the policy that I applied for for the reason specified below: AVIATION. This decision was based on the following: Aviation Questionnaire (on the questionnaire it asks what certificates you hold)" It also said that I could accept their offer of the standard policy they sent me earlier. That was all the letter said.

I called the 800 back (with exact extension) and spoke to the same nice lady who helped me before. She asked me to scan and send her the letter so she can review it. She got back to me the next day saying that I was denied because I was a student pilot.

Earlier today, I got a call from another rep at ReliaStar who repeated what she told me about the student pilot thing and apparently they are now willing to offer me a policy but for only 5 year term and also at triple the premium (about $100/month instead of $34).

I hope that clears up the confusion you had. If you are still not clear PM me, since I don't think anybody else wants to read anymore about this.

I sent Tom Haines my info so hopefully I can get to the bottom of this. I hope to be ready for my checkride in about a month so maybe I'll just wait to re-apply.
Click to expand...


Geez....

I "think" the fatality rate for student pilots is lower then licensed pilots..

I wonder why the triple increase in premiums... :dunno::dunno::dunno:''

After all.. life insurance companies are betting you will live and the policy holder is betting they will die..... Odds are you will live through the student pilot period....
 
orange said:
I hope that clears up the confusion you had.
Click to expand...
Completely. And I'm glad Tom is going to make sure everything gets straightened out. When it's resolved, please post back and let us know if the "AOPA" policy does explicitly mention aviation, or just eliminates the exclusion.
 
rwellner98 said:
What's always surprising to me is that the dozens of things that are similarly dangerous (e.g. riding a motorcycle, riding a bicycle, surfing) aren't generally excluded.

Seems like it's the standard visceral reaction. A plane failing out of the sky just *feels* pretty terrifying and gets peoples attention more than getting hit by a truck while out riding your bike (as happened to a pilot I knew recently).
Click to expand...

We had two pilots get killed last year in our small county (pop: 14,000)...

Both on their motorcycles.
 
I heard that up to 100% of pilots die sometime in their life
 
rwellner98 said:
What's always surprising to me is that the dozens of things that are similarly dangerous (e.g. riding a motorcycle, riding a bicycle, surfing) aren't generally excluded.

Seems like it's the standard visceral reaction. A plane failing out of the sky just *feels* pretty terrifying and gets peoples attention more than getting hit by a truck while out riding your bike (as happened to a pilot I knew recently).
Click to expand...

You are onto something here. We are probably dealing with moron fear-mongers who give into their emotions and feelings instead of using logic and statistical data to write smart policies.

I checked and my life insurance through our company also excludes riding on or jumping out of airplanes as a crew member. *shrug* Though they do not exclude death by a retard on a public gun range (almost got shot once by a dumb-as-sh*t blonde once). At least in Texas, that's a much higher statistical probability than dying in an airplane. Strange, isn't it?
 
BigBadLou said:
You are onto something here. We are probably dealing with moron fear-mongers who give into their emotions and feelings instead of using logic and statistical data to write smart policies.

I checked and my life insurance through our company also excludes riding on or jumping out of airplanes as a crew member. *shrug* Though they do not exclude death by a retard on a public gun range (almost got shot once by a dumb-as-sh*t blonde once). At least in Texas, that's a much higher statistical probability than dying in an airplane. Strange, isn't it?
Click to expand...

I've been an active bug smasher pilot for over 30 years, and I personally have known more people killed, paralyzed or seriously injured by horses than by airplanes, by a wide margin. But you never see equestrian sports as an exclusion either.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
I've been an active bug smasher pilot for over 30 years, and I personally have known more people killed, paralyzed or seriously injured by horses than by airplanes, by a wide margin. But you never see equestrian sports as an exclusion either.
Click to expand...

Same kinda old wives tale of aviation being a HUGE legal liability..

When building an experimental and you need parts , try going to Summit, Jegs, NAPA or any other supplier and tell them you need a widget for a plane.. They will flat out tell you to GO AWAY...:confused::confused:..

I even had Ford Motor Company ( the major sponsor of EAA's Airventure) tell me to leave the premises when they found out I had a Ford engine in my Zenith 801 that was on display in the ZAC booth...:mad2::mad2::mad2:..

Ps... I didn't leave either...:rolleyes:;);););):D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top