Life insurance underwriters review your application and make a determination if a policy can be issued, and if so what is an adequate rate.
Underwriters take into account several health factors including your height and weight, tobacco use, medication and medical history. In some situations they will also consider occupation and hobbies.
There is also a degree of financial underwriting that occurs in policies with larger face amounts.
In addition to what Bob said I will add that it is very popular nowadays for a lot of agents to call themselves underwriters. Or field underwriters. That is done to mislead the public.
Part of an agents job is to do the initial assessment of whether you qualify to apply. You can call this field underwriting. But that doesn't make an agent an "underwriter" any more than faxing a piece of paper makes him a "faxer."
Some times an agent will go to great lengths to not call himself an insurance agent.
A life insurance underwriter is the part of the team who assesses the risk of the applicant, and makes a determination of how to rate that policy. But they are also an integral part of the team that keeps life insurance companies financially sound. Being an underwriter is a challenging and important position in any insurance company. Here is a website with a good job description for a life insurance underwriter: www.insurancejobs.com/insurance-underwriters-job-description.htm
.JPG){kind=avatar}
Underwriters take into account several health factors including your height and weight, tobacco use, medication and medical history. In some situations they will also consider occupation and hobbies.
There is also a degree of financial underwriting that occurs in policies with larger face amounts.
Part of an agents job is to do the initial assessment of whether you qualify to apply. You can call this field underwriting. But that doesn't make an agent an "underwriter" any more than faxing a piece of paper makes him a "faxer."
Some times an agent will go to great lengths to not call himself an insurance agent.