Life Insurance Medical Exam

When a person wants to purchase a life insurance policy, the insurance company will determine the risk before issuing the policy. Age, gender and smoking status are primary elements which are already factored into the life insurance rates. Your health history is another important factor and will be a strong influence in determining which life insurance rates you are assigned. There are different rates for different levels of health conditions. Companies have different life insurance rates classes such as preferred non-smoker, standard non-smoker, preferred smoker, standard smoker and sub-standard for example.

Answering the health questions on the application is the basis for the company’s life insurance underwriting department to evaluate your health condition for a non-medical level of coverage or amount of life insurance. The amount of non-medical coverage varies from company to company. One company may sell up to $100,000 of coverage without a life insurance health exam. Another company may sell up to $250,000 without a life insurance health exam.

For a higher amount of coverage more information is needed. This usually requires a life insurance exam. The life insurance exam is done by a medical professional known as a Paramedical who will meet with the applicant for a personal interview to collect medical history information. They will measure your height and weight and usually take your blood pressure, pulse and collect oral fluids, urine specimen and blood samples. The paramedical technician will send the samples to a designated laboratory with instructions from the insurance company. The lab sends the results to the insurance company. The underwriters then evaluate the results of the life insurance medical exam to determine the risk level of the applicant and assign a rate class.

Higher levels of testing may require a trip to the physician’s office.

Articles in this section include:

Article added 08/16/2011  by Amber Douglas
Senior Market Advisor: Morgan White Group
amber.douglas@morganwhite.com

For more info about Term Life Insurance, please feel free to contact me.
Submit basic questions to: seniordivision@morganwhite.com.