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The process of getting life insurance is fairly simple and straightforward. It starts with a detailed application answering questions about your health and lifestyle. But before most insurance companies will issue a new policy, they require you to go through a brief medical exam.
The life insurance medical exam is a quick and easy process. I had one about six years ago when signing up for my own life insurance, and it was a convenient and mostly painless process.
If you are considering new life insurance, here's what you should know about the life insurance medical exam.
They go over your application and medical history
Most insurance companies will send a nurse to your home or work for the medical exam. There's no trip to a doctor's office or medical facility. My exam took less than an hour on a Sunday morning at my home.
When the nurse arrived, she went over just about every question I had already answered on my application for accuracy. That included questions about past hospitalizations, any ongoing medical conditions, and my family's medical history.
Even if you're tempted to tell a little fib, make sure you are fully honest and transparent when applying for any kind of insurance. Lying on an application is considered fraud. In addition to losing your policy, it's against the law. Insurance fraud can lead to fines and jail time, so tell the whole truth throughout.
Plan on giving blood and urine samples
The application is pretty thorough, but the insurer won't just take your word for every answer. To ensure their bases are covered, the nurse will generally take your vital signs as well as a blood and urine sample.
Vital signs like your pulse, blood pressure, height, and weight can help insurers predict your risk of heart disease. The blood test looks at things like cholesterol, blood sugar, and signs of drug use. The urine test looks for things like tobacco and drug use, and healthy kidney and liver function.
Life insurance companies are not out to catch you in a lie. They are just doing their due diligence to ensure they assign you to the right risk and rate category when offering you a new policy. Applications are rarely turned down. They just want to fully understand your risk of dying before the policy's end date.
Your medical exam can save you money
A small, growing group of insurers is willing to issue life insurance policies to healthy people without a medical exam. However, in many cases, the life insurance you'll find without a medical exam is called "guaranteed issue." As the name implies, they guarantee you will get a policy regardless of health and lifestyle.
Guaranteed issue policies take people with advanced cancer, heart disease, and dangerous living conditions. A medical exam proves you are healthier than the riskiest applicants and saves you money on your insurance. Don't think of a medical exam as something that drives up your cost. It proves you belong in a healthy rate category.
One or two health factors alone won't make life insurance much more expensive in many cases. You may still qualify for the best rates or a category for people just below the top.
Don't let a medical exam scare you away from life insurance
Life insurance medical exams are fast and easy. They come right to you at a convenient time and place to help you qualify for the best possible rates. Aside from a small pinch when they draw your blood sample, the entire process is painless.
The cost of life insurance tends to go up with age, so don't delay if you plan to sign up for life insurance in the future. Your best rates will probably come today. Procrastinating can be a very expensive mistake. If you have a family that depends on your income, it's a smart idea to sign up for life insurance today.
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. What you decide to do with your money is up to you. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.
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