European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 6, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                February 1981 the stars and stripes Page 19 consumer watch by Mary Neth people dont Purchase wisely Dave Didio Richard Lee advises a close look at insurance buying life insurance int an undertaking to be taken lightly on the word of a Salesman Richard Deputy staff judge advocate cites As an example the Case of an air Force Pilot who was killed in a plane the Man had thought he had insurance that would provide for his wife and Small children upon his the life insurance policy carried an aviation rider didst pay in Case of death under such circumstances and the wife Only could collect nothing this Case May be exceptional but Lee believes that generally when it comes to life insurance people dont Pur Chase they Are either under insured or he some dont have others Are paying too much for what they he thinks this is particularly True when it comes to members of the military Are notoriously bad about looking after their own he his seek the help of a Legal officer before dont depend upon the word of the insurance Salesman when it comes to the Type of policy or the amount of coverage a certain Type of policy might pay the Salesman ten times As much in he pointed to help members of the military Purchase Lee has made seminar presentations on estate planning out lining the Type of coverage needed by different individuals at different times of As Lee sees the need for life insurance basically follows a the Young person with no dependents basically requires no life because no one will suffer economically from his the leaps upon marriage and birth of a most people feel a moral obligation to provide an insurance said noting also that providing for a family financially can involve a lot of today it averages around to to rear a in later life when children Are grown and have left the need for insurance again you just dont need the same amount of insurance coverage throughout said its a Good idea to look at what you Are carrying about every five term insurance lets you do it is death Protection for a term of one or More it Gener ally provides the largest immediate death Protection for your Premium some term insurance poli cies Are renewable for one or More additional in what is called whole life insurance gives death Protection for As Long As you the most com Mon Type is called straight life or Ordinary life insure for which you pay the same premiums for As Long As you people also sometimes buy whole life As a Way of building up Lee Points that the average policy Only pays about 3 to percent on Sav in these Days of inflation that even a worse in vestment than savings even they give a six percent Treasury Short term notes give a 14 per cent Lee also noted that in the Early years of a whole life policy most of the Premium you pay goes into the savings part of the policy and not death when you the insurance company will use this Cash value to help pay the policy death he believes when it comes to land a Home is one of the Best if you have he diversified Mutual funds might not be a bad they had a bad name after people got burned in but they Are making a they let the Little Guys get a piece of the he warns people to stay away from commodity of i never knew anyone but an expert to break As to Bow much life insurance coverage a person should Lee advises plotting it out with the help of a at the Bottom of the Chart put Down your the first thing to find out is How much will be paid in government survival most servicemen dont know what their wives will get if they die on Active figure out what will be received in social Securi use the top of the Chart to work on the goals being aimed for just How much More will be required for the family survivors to retain their Standard of to do add up the current monthly expenditures for he figures adequate coverage should be about 80 percent of the Money needed at present to sustain the if the family has substantial savings they can discount them from the amount of life insurance How do you know if the company you Are dealing with is on the Upa Dup Lee said the Best source is a Book by Alfred bests life insurance that the Only place i know of that presents unbiased most according to is checking the Cost of a differences can Range All the Way from to on what you pay annually per for the same whole life Lee advises staying away from frills such As double indemnity coverage which run up the Cost of a he sees them As gambling on the Way youll and notes that the Odds Are great and the Cost he also Doest believe that taking out life insurance on Young children makes sense As there Are better ways to save educational and he would not buy special health plans such As cancer insure you want a plan that provides full health he most he believes is shopping around before you Purchase any Type of that he taking a close look at the Cost of a plan in relationship to what it Washington Star the Federal Trade commission Etc staff has concluded that cancer insurance is a consumer Ripoff but it has been forbidden to Tell the Public about its under orders from the Etc has been barred from releasing a 250page completed earlier this that found cancer insurance to be a very poor offering relatively Little coverage for a substantially 8a copy of the report the first the Etc staff has made on this controversial insurance was obtained by the Washington Star under the Freedom of information among its conclusions cancer insurance is Only of limited even it the policyholder contracts because most policies do not cover All medical Consumers would be better off buying a general health insurance policy because Many other such As heart occur More pose More serious health risks and Are More costly to agents use High powered promotional literature which use misleading statistics to overemphasize cancer incidence and Cost data and exploit Peoples fear of can the report was begun after the Etc received numer Ous including several from members of con about cancer the fastest growing and most profitable line of it was finished in just As Congress was debating legislation to curb the ftps including its authority to investigate the insurance Industry officials and state regulators responsible for regulating the Industry had complained that the Etc was overstepping its when it was ready for we had a Clear Indica Tion that it was not wanted by Gail a chief policy analyst at the Etc who supervised the insurance Congress passed legislation barring the Etc from conducting any investigation into the Industry unless specifically asked by either the House or Senate Commerce committees which oversee the at that Point the report was the Etc is not the Only Agency to sharply criticize cancer several other Federal con Gressional committees and consumer groups have also denounced these policies As poor four states have already banned their the Etc in its said buying cancer insurance was equivalent to buying Auto insurance Only for the bumper of a if the insured should contract cancer insurance will still be of limited the report although policies Promise to cover a Long list of sex they generally cover each one so eagerly that a typical policy will pay Only per or Over a two year by cancer insurers often claim that the two year Cost of cancer averages and can reach