Foreign Travel in Life Insurance Underwriting - An Update

The life insurance underwriting landscape is changing rapidly in terms of foreign travel guidelines. Since 2005, several states have passed legislation prohibiting or restricting the use of foreign travel plans for underwriting purposes. While still open to interpretation, most insurers have responded to the legislation by avoiding adverse underwriting actions based solely on a proposed insured's past or future lawful travel in those states where it is now prohibited. These states currently include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Washington. Life insurance companies are allowed to include foreign travel related questions on their applications in all states except Florida. Many continue to collect this information, ev