I hate to jump on the trackback bandwagon, but there's an interesting post over at RiskProf on the topic of churchgoers getting a lower rate on life insurance.

Citing Actuary.net, Prof reports that there's a positive correlation between regular churchgoers and life span, giving life insurance companies yet another factor by which to determine a policyholder's risk of death.

In light of the GEICO lawsuit, the church-lifespan link pushes me to ask, "how far is too far?" when it comes to consumer rights and insurance. If we dissected risk models too much, we could probably make decent arguments for every risk factor.

I agree with Prof that consumer advocates would be all over insurers if assigning risk to non-churchgoers came to full fruition—even if there was hard statistical evidence to back it. Although...it's hard to imagine a world where non-churchgoers paid significantly more than regular churchgoers. And besides, how could you prove it? And what about those who "attend" church from home (via television)?

I could go on from here, but I have a very active imagination so I'll spare you the diatribe :)

Check out RiskProf's post and let me know what you think.