Getting Ready for Your Life Insurance Exam

Posted in Life Insurance

May 3rd, 2010

So you’re about two weeks away from your first life insurance exam and you’re sitting on pins and needles. It’s natural to feel nervous about the exam because it could determine whether you’ll get insured – or how much you’ll be charged if the company offers you coverage.

The good news is that there are ways to prepare for the exam to help increase your chances of getting covered. No, it’s not what you’re thinking. You’re not cheating. You’re just optimizing your current health condition to get the best possible results.

What to Expect in Your Life Insurance Medical Exam

There are some basics that you need to know will occur during your exam whether you’re purchasing term life insurance or a permanent life policy (whole, universal, variable):

• Blood test
• Urine specimen
• Blood pressure reading
• Series of health questions
• EKG (electrocardiogram) – this test is not guaranteed

The exam is performed by a nurse, doctor or paramedic and is paid for the life insurance company. Expect to spend about an hour going through the various parts of the exam.

How to Prepare for the Exam

Now that you have an idea of what will take place during the life insurance medical exam, let’s look at how you can prepare for it.

• One week before your exam: During this time, you want to stick to a healthy diet. Minimizing salt and avoiding sugary and fatty foods could help lower your blood pressure and improve your stats in a short time.
• 3 days before your exam: As the exam draws near, you want to avoid alcohol products because they can cause your liver enzymes to become elevated.
• The day before your exam: On the day before your exam, it’s important to stay away from caffeine (it elevate blood pressure), nasal decongestants and pain medication, avoid strenuous exercise (it can elevate protein in the urine) and food with 8-10 hours before the exam. Just drink water and get a good night’s rest.
• The morning of your exam: On the morning of your exam, don’t eat breakfast or use any form of tobacco.

Also, it’s important to have with you a list of your doctors (addresses and phone numbers included). But most important, relax and feel good about your health and the fact that you’re about to get an affordable life insurance policy.

Do I Have to Take the Exam?

If you’re really concerned that you can get insured in your current condition, you might consider no medical exam life insurance. By taking on a term life insurance no exam policy, you can get insured without the worry of exam, but you may have to pay more for coverage. So keep this in mind as you’re deciding which type of policy to choose.

While taking the life insurance medical exam can be a bit scary, if you are generally healthy and take the steps listed above, you should have no problems getting a fair rate for your coverage.