What happens at a life insurance medical exam?
What the examiner measures, what the lab looks for, and the simple preparation that keeps a temporary reading from costing you a rate class.
If your policy requires an exam, it is short, free, and usually done at your home or office at a time you pick. Knowing what it covers keeps a one-day fluctuation from turning into twenty years of higher premiums.
What the examiner does
- Height, weight and blood pressure
- A blood draw
- A urine sample
- A short health history, including medications, doctors and recent treatment
- Sometimes an EKG for larger face amounts or older applicants
The whole thing usually takes twenty to thirty minutes.
What the lab is looking for
Cholesterol and lipid panel, blood sugar and A1C, liver and kidney function, nicotine and cotinine, and markers for conditions you may not know you have. The urine sample also screens for nicotine, which is why occasional smokers should not describe themselves as nonsmokers on the application.
How to prepare
- Schedule the exam for early morning and fast for eight to twelve hours if the carrier allows it, since a fasting lipid and glucose panel usually reads better
- Drink water the night before and that morning, which makes the blood draw easier and improves the urine sample
- Skip alcohol for 48 hours and hard exercise for 24, because both can move liver enzymes and blood pressure
- Avoid salt, heavy meals and caffeine that morning
- Take your regular prescriptions as normal, and have the list ready with dosages
- Sleep. Blood pressure taken after four hours of sleep is not your blood pressure
If a reading comes back bad
It happens, and it is not final. Carriers will often reconsider on a repeat lab, particularly for blood pressure or a glucose reading that does not match your history. If your rate class comes back worse than expected, ask what specifically drove it before accepting the offer, because the answer sometimes points to a different carrier that weighs it less heavily.
You get the results
You can request a copy of your lab work, and it is worth doing. More than one client has found out about a treatable condition from a life insurance exam.
Or skip it
Plenty of policies today are issued without an exam. Here is when that is the better route, and when taking the exam saves you real money.
We will schedule it around you
Call (956) 687-3334 and we will set it at your kitchen table if that is easiest. Se habla español.
Common follow-up questions
Do I pay for the exam?
No. The carrier pays for it as part of underwriting.
Can I use a recent physical from my doctor instead?
Sometimes carriers accept an attending physician statement in place of some testing, particularly for older applicants. It is worth asking, though it usually takes longer than the exam.
What if I am nervous about needles?
Say so when scheduling. Examiners do this all day. If it is a real barrier, we will look at no-exam carriers instead.
Want this looked at properly?
We are an independent agency in McAllen serving Hidalgo, Cameron and Starr counties. No cost to talk it through.
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