Life Insurance Medical Exam Guide
Life insurance premiums are based on an applicant’s age and medical risk, which is why a medical exam is necessary and required when purchasing life insurance.
Instead of going to the doctor to get a recent medical exam, our agency will schedule the exam in the comfort of your home or place of preference. Medical exams take between 20-30 minutes. We always recommend and encourage taking a medical exam in the morning to obtain the best test results.
Here is a breakdown of things to consider prior to a medical exam:
Nurse will need to obtain the below:
- Driver’s License
- Blood Sample
- Urine Sample
- Measurement of height, weight, pulse and blood pressure
- Series of health questions
They will be testing for:
- HIV and AIDS
- STDs
- Cholesterol
- Hemoglobin AIC and glucose levels
- Creatinine and protein to identify kidney disease
- Urine acidity (can indicate kidney issues or diabetes)
- Drugs
- Nicotine
What not to do consume before a life insurance medical exam:
- Poppy seeds – can cause false positive for opiates
- Vitamin B12 – can cause false positive for marijuana
- Tonic Water – cause false positive for cocaine
- Ibuprofen- can cause false positive for marijuana
- Sleeping pills – can cause false positive for barbiturates
- Avoid drinking alcohol 48 hours prior to exam
- Avoid eating fast food 48 hours prior to exam
- Limit sweets
- Reduce caffeine consumption 24 hours prior to exam
What to consider:
- Eat more fiber to lower cholesterol readings
- Drink plenty of water 48 hours before exam
- Consider a 16 hour fast prior to exam
- Wear light and comfortable clothes the day of
Once you complete your medical exam, the nurse will be giving you a ticket which will have the medical exam reference number. Please keep this in a safe place in the event you would like to obtain the medical exam results. It takes roughly between 5-10 business days for insurance carrier to go through your medical exam results and come back with a final decisions.
At times, insurance carriers can come back and request medical records from a certain medical facility or physician’s office. At this time obtaining medical records can take an additional 7-14 business days. In this situation, we will contact the applicant to have them reach out to the facility/physician’s office to expedite the process.
If you have any questions regarding your medical exam, please reach out via email, .