Life Insurance for High-Risk Occupations
Key takeaways
- If your job has a higher-than-average risk of death or serious injury, your life insurance company will likely take that into consideration.
- With your occupation, your insurance company will look at the likelihood of death based on industry-wide statistics, but they will also assess your risk individually.
- “High-risk” employers are usually well aware of their life insurance categorization and it’s fairly common for employers to offer some kind of group plan, but relying solely on group coverage can leave you and your family under-protected or even unprotected.
Why Do People in High-Risk Jobs Need Life Insurance?
Life insurance is a smart financial move for most adults, especially if you’re working. If you’re wondering if you need life insurance, consider: Would anyone be impacted financially if you died? If the answer is yes, then you need coverage.
As a wage earner, your family is likely counting on your paycheck to help cover regular bills, the rent or mortgage, and credit card debt or student loans. More than one in four households say they would face financial challenges within a month if the primary wage earner passed away, according to insurance industry group LIMRA. Life insurance can help make sure they have a financial cushion for those expenses later if they need it.
Life insurance helps protect against uncertainties, and that becomes even more important for people in high-risk jobs. If you’re in a profession like law enforcement, construction, or aviation, life insurance can give you and your family added peace of mind.
It’s also important to keep in mind that certain high-risk jobs can affect your eligibility for coverage or the price you will pay. The good news is that there are still options available. This guide can help you and your family find the financial protection you deserve.
High-risk jobs can affect your life insurance eligibility or rates, but options are available for nearly everyone.
How High-Risk Occupations Affect Life Insurance
When you purchase a life insurance policy, you make regular payments, and the insurance company makes a cash payment to your beneficiaries if you die during the life of the policy. About 62% of people buy life insurance specifically to replace their income, according to a LIMRA study.
When you apply, your insurer will want to know about anything that could impact your life expectancy. This includes your health, your age, and any risky hobbies or activities, including any risks that you face on the job.
The more risk factors you have, the greater the risk in insuring you. This could impact which policies you qualify for and how much your rates will be. Your job might not play much of a role if you’re in a desk job, but dangerous occupations can impact your life insurance application.
What Are High-Risk Occupations for Life Insurance?
When applying for life insurance, keep in mind that every insurer defines hazardous a little differently. Just because one insurance company defines your job as high-risk, that doesn’t mean others will. The other piece of good news is that many traditionally high-risk professions have become safer in recent years as safety procedures have evolved.
Still, some jobs are at greater risk of death and injury. Driver/sales workers, truck drivers, grounds maintenance workers, and construction workers are among the riskiest jobs, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Generally, if your job has a higher-than-average risk of death or serious injury, your insurance company will take that into consideration. How much of an impact your job has on your life insurance depends in part on how risky it is, but there can also be differences among insurers.
Here Are a Few Jobs That Are More Likely To Be Classified As High-Risk:
- Construction workers. Construction workers include skilled trades and building workers, as well as people who work in powerline maintenance and construction.
- Natural resources workers. Natural resources workers include people working in the mining, fishing, lumber, quarrying, marine, and oil and gas industries. Your insurance company will likely take a closer look at your job if you’re exposed to the natural elements in your work.
- First responders. First responders can include firefighters and law enforcement. You might be subject to higher fees or rates as a first responder, depending on the nature of your work.
- Active military. Keep in mind that active military members usually don’t qualify for individual life insurance policies, but they are typically enrolled automatically into a government plan.
- People working in emerging countries or war zones. If your work requires you to go abroad to areas of active conflict or developing nations, this can impact your coverage or ability to get covered.
- Aviation jobs. Aviation jobs include private and commercial pilots, as well as people who fly for fun.
What About High-Risk Hobbies?
In addition to high-risk occupations, life insurance carriers may also adjust your rates or eligibility if you participate in certain types of hobbies that they deem risky or dangerous. Some of these may include the following:
- Skydiving
- Scuba diving
- Rock climbing
- Race car driving
- Hang gliding
When you apply, remember that not all insurance providers consider the same activities hazardous. In addition, occasional participation in a hazardous activity, like going scuba diving for the first time on a vacation, won’t necessarily land you in the high-risk category.
How Does a High-Risk Job Affect Your Life Insurance Rates?
Your job or hobbies are one piece of the puzzle when you apply for coverage. Your insurance company also considers a number of other factors, including your age, your health, and your family medical history.
With your occupation, your insurance company will look at the likelihood of death based on industry-wide statistics, but they will also assess your risk individually. They will want to know about your job to truly understand any dangers facing you while you’re on the clock. For example, a police officer in a quiet suburb is likely to be rated differently than one on a SWAT team.
Some of the questions that your life insurance company might ask if you’re applying for life insurance include:
- How often do you engage in dangerous tasks?
- What activities are required during your job?
- What does a typical day on the job look like?
- What type of environment do you work in?
- What type of safety gear is available to you?
- What safety measures and guidelines do you follow?
- Are you continually trained in safety measures?
- Do you have higher levels of certification?
- Do you work with chemicals?
- Do you work with machinery?
Your life insurance company will also ask questions about your particular occupation. If you’re an airplane pilot, for example, you may have to answer the following questions and more:
- What type of aircraft do you fly?
- What type of instrument rating do you have?
- How many in-flight hours do you log in a typical year?
- What cities or countries do you fly to and from?
Based on your overall profile, the insurance company will generally assign you to a rate class:
- Preferred Plus. Also referred to as Preferred Elite or Preferred Best, this is the best classification you can get. People who are rated Preferred Plus get the lowest life insurance prices.
- Preferred. A Preferred rating is the next class after Preferred Plus. You can still count on fairly affordable rates with this classification.
- Select. If you received the Select rating, you might have a few red flags, like being overweight or a history of previous illness, but you are still a fairly good candidate for life insurance.
- Standard. The Standard rating means there are significant issues with your application, such as your health, your age, or your lifestyle factors. You will pay higher rates as a result, but you are still eligible for coverage.
A lower-risk job can help you get a better classification, while a higher-risk job can mean a lower classification. The better your classification, the better your rates will be.
Can I Just Rely on Group Coverage From My Employer?
Some “high-risk” employers are well aware of their life insurance categorization, and it is fairly common for employers to offer some kind of group plan. That said, relying solely on group coverage can leave you and your family unprotected when it matters.
While group coverage can be an easy way to get covered, it comes with some limitations. Group coverage typically only provides up to three or four times your salary in coverage, much less than the amount many people need. Since it’s often tied to your employment, you may not be able to take it with you when you switch jobs. Buying an individual term life insurance or permanent life insurance policy lets you choose the amount of coverage based on your needs, and you’ll have it if you transfer jobs or retire.
Best Types of Life Insurance for High-Risk Professions
When you apply for life insurance, being honest is the best way to find the protection you need. If you don’t disclose details about your job that come out later, the insurance company can end up rejecting your application. Worse, if you die and your insurance company finds out you lied on your application, your beneficiaries might not receive the death benefit they were counting on.
Fidelity Life offers a range of affordable plans for people at every age and stage, and our agents can help you shop options to find the right fit.
Depending on the overall risk of your job, some good options might be:
- Term life. Term life may be a great fit if your occupation is on the margin, but you still qualify for traditional insurance. It is less expensive than permanent life insurance, so it can be an affordable option even if you are paying higher rates because of your occupation. Explore RAPID ecision® Life term plans from Fidelity Life.
- No exam life insurance. For people with higher-risk jobs, no exam life insurance has more lenient underwriting, so you can still get covered. It’s easy to apply and qualify, with no medical exam required. It’s more expensive than medically underwritten term life insurance, but it can be an excellent option for people who don’t qualify for traditional term life or can’t afford the rates as a high-risk candidate. Explore no medical exam life insurance from Fidelity Life.
- Final expense. If you are over 50, final expense life insurance is another no exam option with easy approvals. Final expense provides a small guaranteed payout of up to $35,000 to help your family cover funeral costs or other needs. Explore final expense plans from Fidelity Life.
- Accidental death benefit. Accidental death benefit insurance is a standalone policy that covers you in case of an accident. Accidental death benefit coverage is on a guaranteed issue basis, which means that no medical exam is required. While an accidental death benefit plan won’t cover people in certain high-risk jobs, it can provide additional peace of mind for people who face a greater risk of death or injury at work. Explore accidental death benefits from Fidelity Life.
