Dangerous activities like mountain climbing and skydiving can give participants a rush of adrenaline as they test their body’s limits and challenge themselves to endure harsh environmental conditions. Those who engage in activities with a component of danger may be wondering about the implications of these risky activities for their life insurance. What might happen if someone dies while engaging in an inherently dangerous activity like climbing a rocky mountain face or descending below the water’s surface in a shark cage? Would their life insurance still cover them?
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Life Insurance for Extreme Sports Enthusiasts
The bottom line is that life insurance will probably cost more for people who regularly participate in extreme sports or other dangerous pursuits. Keep reading to learn why and how an application for life insurance may be complicated by this lifestyle and tips for navigating the world of life insurance for people who participate in extreme sports or other dangerous activities.
What Is a Hazardous Activity?
In the insurance industry, a hazardous or dangerous activity is potentially anything an insured does that increases their risk of death or injury. The definition of a hazardous or dangerous activity may vary depending on the insurance company and the specific policy. If you engage in an activity that you think may be considered dangerous, you will need to discuss this with your insurance advisor to find out how it could affect your coverage.
Which Activities Are Considered Hazardous?
Some common high-risk activities that are typically considered hazardous by insurance companies include:
- Extreme sports that involve heights, such as skydiving, bungee jumping, rock climbing, and base jumping. These sports have a host of life-threatening hazards, including the possibility of equipment failure, the impact of weather conditions such as high winds, fog, and thunderstorms, impact with hard surfaces and hard landings.
- Sports that involve speed, such as car racing, motorcycle racing, and jet skiing. The speed of these vehicles can easily cause the operator to lose control, especially in challenging weather conditions. Collisions with other vehicles are also more likely to be fatal at high rates of speed.
- High-risk water sports such as scuba diving, whitewater rafting, and surfing. The risk of drowning is a significant hazard with these activities, as are collisions with rocks and other objects in the water.
- Hunting and shooting sports. These sports are risky due to the possibility of accidental discharge of a gun, mistaking a person for a target, and stray bullets that ricochet off an object or pass through a target and continue to travel.
- Recreational aviation, including hang gliding, paragliding, and ultralight flying. These hobbies are inherently dangerous due to the risks associated with flying, which include high winds and turbulence, mechanical failure, collisions with other aircraft, and pilot error.
- Martial arts and other high-impact sports. There are many potential dangers in martial arts and related activities. Many involve physical contact with other practitioners, including strikes, kicks, throws, and other techniques that can cause injury. Some martial arts also include manipulating a competitor into submission, which can involve locks and other potentially dangerous moves.
- Snow sports such as skiing, snowmobiling, and snowboarding. Many winter sports and activities involve high speeds, which makes accidents more likely to cause injury or death. Weather and snow conditions also make these sports riskier: packed snow can cause someone to lose control of their equipment or vehicle, while deep snow can lead to getting bogged down and stuck, potentially for an extended period.
These are examples of hazardous activities, but there are many others. If you’re not sure whether an activity you participate in is hazardous and needs to be disclosed to your insurer, ask your insurance advisor.
Disclose to your Insurer
If you frequently participate in hazardous activities or they are a regular part of your life and you expect to continue doing them, you must disclose them when you apply for life insurance. If you fail to disclose your participation in these activities, it increases the risk your loved ones’ claim may be denied.
If you already have life insurance and recently took up one of these activities, you may need to disclose this to your life insurance provider. Remember that your insurance protects your loved ones. If you participate in an activity that makes it more likely that you could pass away, you may better protect them by fully disclosing your participation to your insurer.
How Do Hazardous Activities Affect Life Insurance Premiums?
Regularly participating in hazardous activities will likely increase your premiums. These activities present more financial risk to life insurance providers because of the statistically greater chance that the policyholder will pass away while their policy is in effect. To buffer against this added risk, the company will assess a higher premium for people who engage in hazardous activities, similar to if the person has a dangerous occupation or a pre-existing medical condition. It is important to note that the probability of an untimely passing is based on decades of historical data and is not a prediction about any one policyholder.
For any life insurance policy that you are considering, be sure to read the contract. Some life insurance policies have exclusions if you have an accident while participating in a dangerous activity, and some policies will not pay out at all.
Life Insurance Options for Thrill-Seeking Individuals
Despite the added risk of insuring people who engage in dangerous hobbies, there are still life insurance products that may be suitable for them:
- Traditional (fully underwritten) Life Insurance, these policies are fully underwritten, meaning that you will need to answer a comprehensive questionnaire and undergo a physical examination and testing to ensure that you qualify. You will also need to check the policy to ensure they will cover you if you participate in high-risk activities.
- Simplified Issue Life Insurance, this type of policy doesn’t require a medical exam, but the application will ask basic health questions and require you to disclose participation in high-risk activities. Because it is not fully underwritten, you can get coverage more quickly than with a traditional plan.
- Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance, has the fewest requirements and no medical exam. Acceptance is guaranteed as long as a few basic conditions are met.
Final Thoughts
Participating in dangerous activities such as mountain climbing and skydiving can limit your life insurance options. However, there are plans that may meet your life insurance needs and allow you to continue doing the things that you love.
Canada Protection Plan offers Simplified Issue and No Medical life insurance plans that could be ideal for you. With no requirement for extensive medical exams or testing, the application is easier, and you can get protection quickly compared to other types of plans. As a Canadian company, we are attuned to the many exciting sports activities Canadians love, and we want to ensure that our clients can participate in them feeling confident about their insurance protection.
Ready to get started? Contact one of our licensed life insurance agents today to talk about how we can help you live your best life.
