Medical Exam PictureCongratulations! You've decided to purchase life insurance to help make sure your family is cared for financially should anything horrible happen to you. You've made a wise decision, but there's still one final hurdle that you must jump before the policy is finalized: a medical exam.
It may seem morbid, but the main reason insurance companies require medical exams is so that they can determine how much to charge prospective clients. If something in your medical profile leads them to believe that you are likely to die at an earlier age than average, they will want to collect higher premiums early on. Conversely, if they determine that your health profile includes no risk factors your premiums may be lower, because they believe you will be around to pay them longer.
Despite rumors to the contrary, the actual exam is not that big a production. You won't even have to wait in your doctor's office wearing a paper gown. Instead, a nurse practitioner or paramedic will come to your home or office, and give you what amounts to a basic physical. Specific procedures will probably include:
- Getting accurate measurements of your height and weight
- Taking your blood pressure and checking your pulse.
- A blood sample (to be analyzed for things like cholesterol, glucose, and protein levels as well as the presence of HIV)
- A urine specimen (to be tested for some of the same elements as the blood, like glucose and protein, as well as creatinine and cocaine)
In addition to the physical, you will also have to go through a brief interview, where you will be asked about how much insurance you want to buy. You'll also be asked to provide a medical history for yourself and your family, who your primary-care physician is and how to contact him or her, and a bit about your lifestyle, like whether or not you exercise, or smoke, whether you drink alcohol, and whether you use any recreational drugs.
Results from your medical exam can be as quick as a few days, or take as long as several months, and in most cases there won't be any problems. If there is a result that causes question, you may be sent to a local clinic to repeat a test. Generally this happens in situations when you may have taken an antihistamine or other over-the-counter medication the night before the exam.
Preparation for an insurance medical exam, then, should include avoiding over-the-counter drugs, gathering relevant information, and, where possible, fasting for eight to twelve hours before your blood is drawn. For this reason, it is advisable to schedule your appointment as early as possible in the morning.
Once your medical exam results have been processed, you will be contacted by your insurance agent, and your policy will be put in force. If something in your profile precludes you from being insured, you will be contacted about that as well. Be sure to ask for copies of the records, so you can go over them with your doctor, either to address any conditions you were not aware of, or to challenge the decision.
As you can see, a medical exam for insurance purposes is not that different from a basic physical, and takes even less time and effort. It also takes no money - the cost of the exam is covered by the insurance company as part of their cost of doing business.
