Before you can get your final quote and actually sign your policy, you must have a medical exam. The purpose of this exam is obvious. First, they want to verify the information you provided on your application and second, they want to know if you have any medical condition which you may not be aware of. This medical exam will directly influence your insurability and the final costs of your premiums. In most cases, the insurance company will pay for the medical exam and will choose which paramedical will conduct the exam. In some cases, no medical exam may be necessary. This usually is the case for young people and/or policies with small coverage amounts. In most cases you can expect to be contacted by a paramedic to schedule your life insurance medical exam. Interestingly enough, the more coverage you are requesting and the type of policy you are seeking, the more extensive your medical exam will be. Physical exam, urine specimen, blood work, EKG and x-ray are common in the medical exam. You can also expect to be tested for HIV, high cholesterol, liver or kidney disorders, diabetes, hepatitis and immune disorders, as well as drug use, and smoking. After your exam, the results will be sent to the insurance company for review. This is why giving the most accurate information on your application is important. If they find discrepancies between your application and the results of the exam they can deny you coverage or request a second exam. If you are declined coverage based on your medical exam, it is your right to be sent a copy of that medical exam for review by you or your doctor. If you believe that the test results are wrong, dont hesitate to contact your insurance company and request a second medical exam. Once the insurance company reviews your medical exam results and approve you, they will calculate your premiums based on all the information, conditions, provisions, health risk, etc specified and send you your final policy quote for review and acceptance. Try to be very accurate on your policy application. It can be very difficult to fool the life insurance medical exam and sometimes an insurance company will completely deny you coverage based on your inaccuracies, even though they may have covered you if you had been more accurate, at a higher premium of course. An example of this came to us from a fellow in Miami, Florida. He stated on his application that he was a non smoker. And for the most part this was true. He did not consider the 3 to 4 cigarettes per week he smoked to qualify him and categorize him as a smoker. Once the exam was completed, it showed that he indeed was a smoker. The insurance company declined to process his application any further. He discontinued smoking for some time and applied to another insurance company where he was accepted as a non smoker. The insurance companies have all the power and reserve the right to not insure you for any reason they want. In the example above, this mans family may find later, at the time of his death, that the insurance company will refuse to pay out the death benefit because they will find out that he is a smoker, even if its only a few cigarettes per week. How will they find out you ask? Prior to paying out any benefits, regardless of the amount, the insurance company will require a copy of the medical records of the insured. If they determine that he was a smoker, even if he started later in life, they could deny his family the death benefit because he did not notify them of his change in medical status. There are many cases of this. Remember, the insurance companies are looking for any reason whatsoever to not pay. |
