Old news. Didn't someone say "Strong people are harder to kill than weak people" a while ago?Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe
TMPHBITEU
Has anyone seen this? Is it legit?
https://www.healthiq.com/life-insurance/weightlifter
Insurance guys?
Member
Old news. Didn't someone say "Strong people are harder to kill than weak people" a while ago?
Member
I was just declined by our home/car insurance guys for having high "liver" enzymes. Maybe this could be this ticket. I will be checking back in here.
TMPHBITEU
You've seen this policy before? I've never heard of it.
Member
I don't know if I'd call it a "policy" per se.
They appear to be a very, very clever middleman.
You give them a bunch of health and personal data, demonstrate that you meet certain criteria, they then bundle you up with a bunch of other people with similar criteria, and then say to an insurance company "I have a bundle of X-type people, which are known to be low-risk for factors Y and Z, give me a good rate for them".
Then they skim a bit off the top, and probably also do stuff with your info. It's like a consumer union for insurance, in a way.
You get a lower rate, they get a fee (and your data), the life insurance company gets a lower-risk pool of policies. Everybody wins, maybe.
That's just my guess on how it works, of course.
Member
I was expecting it to say "weightlifers break their arms all the time; they should pay more". Pleasantly surprised by this.
Member
I've been seeing the ads (some "if you can deadlift your bodyweight" and "if you can squat your bodyweight", but also for running "if you can run an 8 minute mile" and others.
I work in the industry, but don't know about these guys. They appear to be an independent agent with an interesting marketing plan. The C-suite guys are all serial entrepreneurs, with decent resumes.
Member
It's not a policy written by Health IQ. They gather information about an applicant, and then shop a bunch of carriers to find the best rate. They are brokers. It's good marketing, because they are getting leads for a subset of people who are predisposed to make fewer unhealthy choices than the average American. But, it's marketing nonetheless.
The trick is, they are trying to make you think that there is a discount for people who strength train regularly. When you click on their ad, one of the questions in the very first info gathering screen is "how many times per week do you lift?". No matter how I answer that question, there is no way for the insurance carrier to verify the accuracy of my answer. Even when they send a lab tech out to draw blood, take BP, etc., they can't measure or quantify how often I work out. Since the insurance industry is run on statistics and actuarial tables, the quantified data will establish your premium rate.
Not how often you go to the gym. Or how vegan you are (another fun promotion they are offering). If you and I both have identical measurable attributes, but you strength train 4 times per week, and I literally never exercise, we are both going to be offered identical premiums.
I think it's all legitimate insurance brokerage. If you need life insurance, give them a call. But the "better rates for weightlifters!" angle is marketing. To paraphrase, they are saying "Better than average rates for healthier than average humans!". Which, as far as I can tell, is standard industry practice.
Member
It's a fairly sophisticated example of the rather black art of online sales that is all about getting the email addresses of potentially interested parties so that they can be hammered with persuasion techniques until approximately 5% of them buy the product (generally considered a healthy conversion rate for these things). These guys may not be interested in anything other than building and selling the email address list -- those are worth a lot of money to businesses with related products to sell.
If you pay close attention to the material offered, on this site, it's pretty useless, but just intriguing enough in terms of how it is presented (stats with signle paper references about how great you are for exercising and a meaningless quiz to determine how "elite" you are in your chosen domain) to get you to fork over your contact information. No promises are made, whatsoever.
Think about it -- if there are insurances that are cheaper for people with the endpoints described (lower BP, lower cholesterol, etc.), *those endpoints* are what the lower rates will be based on, not some ridiculously impossible to verify behavioral criteria like your exercise regime.
So, no, "weightlifters" are not being offered anything special. *Healthy* weightlifters, just like *healthy* couch-sitting ice cream eaters may or may not get better rates -- somebody more familiar with these insurances than me would have to comment on that. This site is just a deviously well-designed instrument to get you to become somebody's hot lead for their next sale.
Member
Not specifically, I was referencing what I thought was an old quote of yours.
I am aware of questions about exercise habits on life insurance applications, but those were in general, nothing regarding strength training. It makes sense though. I think people who exercise are probably more likely to engage in other healthful living habits as well.
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