Can I Get Life Insurance Without a Medical Exam?

You know you should get life insurance but who wants to be poked and prodded by a medical examiner?  Life insurance is one of the few things you’ll ever buy where you’ll receive physical discomfort and even pain, just for the privilege of making a purchase.

Thankfully, there is now a way to get life insurance without a medical exam.

What is Life Insurance Without a Medical Exam?

Customers were traditionally required to meet with a paramedical professional, or a “paramed”, to perform a medical exam when buying life insurance. The paramed would typically come to the buyer’s home or work to ask health questions, take the buyer’s blood pressure, and also take blood and urine samples. The samples are then tested for:

• Heart disease
• Cholesterol
• Stroke
• Diabetes
• Bloodborne disease like HIV/AIDS & hepatitis
• and even Cotinine, which may reveal smoking habits.

This type of life insurance is called “fully underwritten” or “medically underwritten” life insurance because the insurance company’s underwriters use all this information when making their decision on which plan they will offer, if any.

Life insurance without a medical exam skips the intrusive paramed process.  Instead, the insurance company will rely on a medical questionnaire, often completed over the phone, as well as several different information databases. Some of the information collected may come from:

• Motor Vehicle Report listing your driving violations and suspensions
• Pharmacy report listing your medication history
• Medical Information Bureau (MIB) which verifies application information

No exam life insurance policies rely on the medical questionnaire combined with the information collected from these various places to make their underwriting decisions.

Advantages of Life Insurance Without a Medical Exam

No exam (duh). There are many advantages to applying for life insurance without a medical exam. The most obvious one is avoiding the exam itself! Did you know that 10% of the population has a serious fear of needles, often called trypanophobia? It’s true. No exam life insurance not only helps you to avoid the needles, but also the blood pressure test…

No blood pressure test. Many people have anxiety during a blood pressure test, causing higher than normal blood pressure readings. It’s estimated that 20 to 40% of hypertension is caused by this so-called “white coat syndrome”. This is also true. Avoiding a blood pressure test helps life insurance buyers avoid a false positive for hypertension.

No health surprises. Even if you’ve been lucky enough to go without any health issues in the past, any new exam is an opportunity to expose an ailment lurking behind the scenes. These surprises could spell trouble for life insurance applications.

Faster approvals. Traditional fully underwritten life insurance applications can take 5 to 8 weeks to be approved. Those who apply for policies that skip the exam can be approved in less than 2 weeks and often times in just a couple of days.

Disadvantages of Life Insurance Without a Medical Exam

Cost. With less information comes less certainty. Life insurance companies base their premiums on projected life expectancy and without a medical exam, their projections are less accurate. To compensate, they raise their premiums. For smaller policies, the premium difference may be just a few dollars. For larger policies, the premium difference could be much more.

No health surprises. Hey, wasn’t this listed in the Advantages above? Yes, but while not being surprised with unexpected health issues is an advantage when it comes to buying life insurance without a medical exam, it’s a disadvantage when it comes to fixing the health issue. The fact is that sometimes a life insurance exam saves lives by catching a disease early enough to be treated. To combat this disadvantage, make sure you are getting an annual physical apart from your life insurance application.

Lower coverage amounts available. Coverage for life insurance without a medical exam typically maxes out at $500,000. While that is enough for a majority of online buyers, others may need more coverage. You can’t find very much coverage on a policy purchased through work, but it can be found in fully underwritten term life insurance policies. Fully underwritten policies can provide coverage up to $10,000,000 or even more.

Final Expense Life Insurance

Final Expense Life Insurance is a type of life insurance designed to pay for the expenses associated with a funeral. Due to the low benefit amounts and clear cut underwriting rules, almost all Final Expense policies can be purchased without a medical exam.

You can learn all about Final Expense Life Insurance by viewing our Guide.

Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance

For those in the worst health, life insurance is still available, and without a medical exam.

Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance is designed to accept all who apply, regardless of health. In most cases, the full death benefit will not be paid out during the first two to three years of the policy.

To find out if this type of plan is for you, view our Ultimate Guide to Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance.

Sample Quotes

Here are some sample quotes for fully underwritten life insurance vs. no-exam life insurance:

A 40 year old male in California can get $250,000 in coverage with a 20 year term for as low as $22 per month. That’s just $5 more than a traditional fully underwritten term life policy with a medical exam.

A 40 year old female in California can get the same $250,000 in coverage with a 20 year term for as low as $19 per month.  Just $4 more than a fully underwritten policy.

The same man can get $500,000 in life insurance without a medical exam for as low as $37 per month while the woman’s policy could be as low as $30 per month.

The Best Companies that Provide Life Insurance Without a Medical Exam

Savings Bank Life Insurance (SBLI)

SBLI has been around since 1907 and they are still growing fast with over 1,000,000 families protected.  As an A+ rated carrier, they offer life insurance without a medical exam for death benefits up to $500,000 and they are often a low price leader as well.  You can be confident in applying for life insurance with SBLI.

Sagicor Life

Sagicor Life began in the Caribbean in 1840 and now operates in 17 countries including the United States.  When it comes to offering life insurance without a medical exam, Sagicor’s strength lies in their speed.  Using medical databases rather than medical exams, policies can sometimes be approved in minutes rather than weeks or months.

American National

American National was founded in 1905 in Texas and today provides service to more than 5 million policyholders.  In 2017 they were named one of Forbes America’s Most Trustworthy Financial Companies.  Although American National only provides life insurance without a medical exam up to $250,000 in coverage, they offer some of the best living benefits in the industry automatically included in every policy.

Foresters

Foresters Financial started in 1874 and today has more than 3 million customers.  They can provide life insurance without a medical exam in as little as 10 minutes using Standard rates on an accept or reject basis.  Coverage amounts are available from $50,000 up to $400,000.

Where to Buy No-Exam Life Insurance

The best place to start shopping for no-exam life insurance is with an licensed independent life insurance agent.  Independent agents don’t work for one company.  Instead they have contracts with several life insurance companies which allow them to match your specific case to the insurance company who is most likely to accept you and provide the best rates.

You can begin shopping right here, right now with instant online quotes.