If you are considering taking out a life insurance policy, then it’s highly likely that you will have to undergo a medical exam. Life insurance companies require new applicants to undergo medical exams so that they can ensure the applicant is in good health. Companies need to make sure that new applicants are in good health before giving them a policy so that they don’t lose money. If somebody who was very sick took out a policy and died the next day, the insurance company could lose a lot of money.
This article will tell you what the benefits of having a medical exam undertaken for your life insurance policy are:
Are Medical Exams Necessary?
The reason that insurance companies perform medical exams on new applicants is so that they can rule out any serious existing health problems, that would cause the applicant to need an insurance pay-out. While insurance companies are in the business of providing insurance pay-outs to people, they do everything that they can to avoid having to. If an insurance company detects any serious health problems during an exam, they are likely to refuse coverage to that person.
If you do have health problems that would cause an insurer to think twice, then your best option is to find an insurance policy that doesn’t require a preliminary medical exam. However, policies without exams aren’t often the best. For this reason, you need to find the best no medical exam life insurance policy that you can, which you can do by reading instructional guides and independent reviews. Once you have found a company that you want to work with, check out their other reviews on Google and Trust Pilot, just to hear what other consumers have to say about them.
What Does A Medical Exam Entail
The exam will be held either in a private doctor’s surgery or in the insurance company’s own offices. Before you arrive for the exam, the examiner will phone you for an interview, where they will ask you about your health. Some of the things that they will ask you will include the names and dosages of medications that you take (and have taken); names and addresses of doctors that you have visited recently; a list of your medical conditions, dates of diagnoses, and treatment plans; your driver’s license number or passport number.
When you attend the exam, the examiner will check your height, weight, pulse, and blood pressure. In addition to all of these tests, it’s likely that they will also want you to provide a urine sample and undergo blood tests. Your blood and urine are checked in order to detect health issues, such as unstable blood sugar levels, or elevated cholesterol. You will also be screened for drug use.
Depending on your age and the size of your life insurance policy, you may also have to take an electrocardiogram (EKG). These tests are painless and very fast; they are taken to rule out any heart abnormalities or arrhythmias. If any issues are detected on your EKG, further tests will need to be carried out.
Other tests that may need to be performed could include a treadmill stress test, an X-ray, and a cognitive test. All of these are done so that the insurer can be confident that you are in good health and won’t need to issue a payout to you anytime soon. The medical exam process has benefits for you, also. This is because you are getting an extensive (but completely free) health check.
What Are the Benefits of A Medical Exam
As already mentioned, the main benefit of an insurance company’s medical exam process is that you are getting a free health check-up. In America, health check-ups aren’t cheap. In fact, they can be extremely expensive. If you haven’t already got health insurance, then you could have to pay hundreds for an extensive health check-up. An insurance company’s health exam is extremely thorough because they are trying to rule out the most harmful conditions. After your exam, you will either know that you have a problem that you need to resolve, or you will be given an all-clear.
Identifying Health Risks
Another advantage of having a medical exam performed by an insurance company’s medical examiner is that you will be able to learn about the health risks that you are currently exposed to. If you have any habits that could result in you developing serious health conditions, the insurance company’s examiner will tell you. If they don’t tell you personally, then they will tell the insurance company, who will report back to you. The likelihood is that if you do have any health risks, the company will decline your insurance claim.
Lifestyle Changes
If you need to make any lifestyle changes, then you can learn about them during your medical exam. We all have bad habits. Some of these habits, as mentioned in the previous point, can leave one open to serious health risks. It’s often hard to see which of our habits are most harmful because more often than not one’s habits are just part and parcel of one’s character and therefore don’t elicit a lot of thought. Learning about current health risks can allow you to make positive lifestyle changes and reclaim your health. It’s unlikely that the medical examiner will offer advice on how to make these changes, but you can then take the information learned from them to your actual physician and ask them for advice on making changes.
Up to Date Checks
One last benefit of a health exam is that insurance companies invest a lot of money into providing a concise and quality service because their success as a company hinges on it. This means that you will receive a check-up using the latest and most effective tools. If the last time you had an exam it was performed by a physician that didn’t have updated tools, then things could have been missed.
A medical exam is to be expected when you are applying for health or life insurance unless you are taking out a policy with a company that doesn’t require one. Medical exams aren’t anything to be afraid of. This post’s guidance should have simplified them for you.
