Danger Jobs & Life Insurance:Coal Miners

One would think that it would be extremely difficult for someone who plunges into deep underground coal mining shafts—which are chock full of dangerous equipment, as well as poisonous and incendiary gases—to obtain life insurance. It’s a reasonable thought. That just isn’t the case, though, actually.

Well, actually, it depends on what you consider “difficult” to be. Life insurance companies, or at least the majority of them, don’t discriminate against dangerous jobs when it comes to obtaining a policy from them. However, they do make it very, very expensive for someone in such a profession to do so.

Business is Business, Investments are Investments

At the end of the day, a life insurance company—at its core—it a business. This means that it still has to do all of the things that other businesses have to do in order to remain a successful business. You know, like, turn a profit.

In the same school of thought are investment strategies. Would you invest in something where the likelihood of you losing money outweighs the likelihood that you’ll turn a profit? No, you wouldn’t. When the risks are too great, you have to back down – It’s the same for life insurance companies, like GIO.

Of course, for insurance companies, it’s even a little more complicated than that. Their entire ability to pay claims comes from the amount of premiums that they have coming in. It’s a balancing act. If the amount that they’re paying out exceeds what they’re bringing in—FAIL. Out of business.

Statistics for coal miners show that their fatality rate hovers around 34.8% per 100,000 workers—that’s substantially high. It’s the not the highest—that accolade belongs to our nation’s fishermen—but it’s still substantial when compared to individuals who stay at home writing for a living, like me. I’m very insurable for an insurance company; paper cuts don’t tend to be too terribly fatal.

How Does an Insurance Company Decide What’s Worth the Risk?

As mentioned, an insurance company will insure just about anyone, in any line of work, with any kind of pre-existing condition. For those individuals who pose a higher risk to their bottom line, they simply hike up the cost on premiums to help offset what the potential loss could be. If they insure someone who has a higher chance of dying in coal mine collapse within a few years, they want to set it up to where they can get as much as they can before that happens and they’re paying out substantially more than they received.

These price hikes on premiums are usually determined through the insurance company’s own personal experience insuring persons within a given profession and through the statistics provided by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Reports issued by the USBLS carry a substantial amount of we right for insurance companies. If they bureau lists an occupation as high-risk, it’s high-risk. If an insurance company doesn’t have any previous experience with a profession, they’ll default to where that occupation ranks with the bureau.

So, What Are the Options for Someone With a Dangerous Job?

In the case of coal miners, they have a union, and most dangerous jobs out there will have something similar that provides group life insurance through the employer. For example, an individual in the military is provided substantial life insurance benefits—better than most when it comes to group life insurance, actually—so, they don’t have to go looking at all.

In some cases, however, even the group life insurance doesn’t offer enough coverage. In which case, some individuals have to look at buying expensive commercial policies.

No matter what the case may be, though, it is always highly recommended that anyone in such a profession, who is seeking additional coverage, go to a certified, insurance specialist. Someone who knows their market and knows how to curate the best possible deals out there. Going it alone will only cost far more than it will if you simply hire a professional and let them bring home the best of the least affordable policies out there.