Most life insurance policies will require a medical exam which will be done by a professional paramedical at your home, office or at the clinic that the insurance company has chosen. Some types of life insurance do not require almost any medical information, but these are very rare. Accordingly, in case you are thinking about buying insurance, you should be aware of the process of the medical exam and what you may expect from it.
First of all, the reason why you must undergo a medical exam is because the company will determine how much premium to charge you with based on your medical information. In case they estimate that you might die earlier they will want to charge you with higher premiums so that they can collect more money; on the other hand, if they find that you will live longer, the premiums will be lower since they will have more time to collect them.
The two factors that help insurance companies determine for how long you are likely to live are the so-called Longevity Charts and Medical Exams with History.
Longevity charts are actually statistics about the mortality rates of people. For example, they provide information such as the number of men, women and children that die at certain ages and this may be of great help to companies in estimating the risk they take when they choose a client. For instance, if the charts say that the mortality rate is higher in men of thirty five years of age than in women, then a company will take more risk when it insures a man of that age than a when it insures a woman.
Your medical exam and your medical history are also meant to determine how risky you are for the company. Medical exams are usually done at your home, but if the company requires some additional tests, you will have to a clinic and complete the exam there. The information that will probably requested from you is the following: your medical history, the medical history of your family, how to contact your primary doctor, your smoking and drinking habits, the recreational drug abuse, the amount of exercise and how much insurance you wish to buy.
As for the procedures that are usually performed, you may expect measuring of your weight and height, measuring of your blood pressure and pulse, drawing a blood sample to check cholesterol, protein, glucose and HIV as well as taking a urine sample to check glucose, protein, creatinine and cocaine.
Once the medical exam is over, it may take up to a few months for the company to process the results and to reach final decision.
Now you that you know what you may expect during the medical exam for life insurance, you may prepare yourself and make it as least stressful as possible. Actually, you have nothing to fear, for it is a basic examination and you should be honest in giving answers to all those health related questions.