No medical exam life insurance is life insurance that you can get without having to undergo a medical exam. These types of policies have become more popular as the years go on, and more people are turning to them as a convenient alternative to traditional policies.
The benefits of no exam life insurance policies include:
- Approval is quicker than traditional policies
- You can skip the medical exam and the needles
- The entire process can be done online or over the phone
This whole deal sounds pretty good, right? However, while the benefits of no exam policies are real, there are also certain requirements that can make it hard to get approved. The reason for this is that when you apply for a no exam policy, insurers have a limited amount of information, time, and resources to accurately assess your health situation and how much risk you pose to the company. Therefore, the approval process can be stricter. You can read more about no exam life insurance here.
The Top 5 Reasons You May Not Qualify For Term No Exam Life Insurance
There are different types of no exam life insurance: term and whole. Many whole no exam life insurance policies offer guaranteed coverage, which means that approval is guaranteed to almost anyone. Obviously, these types of policies are easy to get approved for! However, the drawback is that coverage only goes up to $25,000 and premiums are high. Term no exam policies, on the other hand, offer higher coverage. At the same time, getting approved can be harder. Read on to find out 5 reasons why you may not be approved for a term no exam life insurance.
1. Age
While all term life insurance policies have some sort of age limit, the limit tends to be lower for no exam policies. The age limit for these policies usually hovers between 60 and 65. This means that anyone older is unlikely to qualify.
2. BMI
BMI, a measure of body fat based on height and weight, is another reason why someone would be denied term no exam life insurance. Most companies have strict BMI requirements, simply because BMI plays an important role in mortality rates.
At this point, it’s important to mention the requirement of accuracy when filling out a life insurance application. When asked for your BMI, it can be tempting to fudge the facts, even slightly, just to qualify or get better rates. After all, there’s no medical exam, so how will the insurer know if your BMI is a bit higher than you say it is?
While the temptation is great, fudging the facts, even just a little, should not be done under any circumstances. Not only because it’s lying, but because practically, giving inaccurate information on a life insurance application can be grounds for the insurance company to deny the claim if ever needed. There is usually a 2-year contestability period, so if the insurance company finds out that any fact on the life insurance application wasn’t true, it can deny the death benefit payout. This defeats the entire purpose of getting life insurance in the first place!
3. Medical Conditions
Insurance companies can deny a term no exam application based on certain medical conditions. While these conditions vary by company, the usual suspects include:
- Cancer
- Heart disease
- Kidney disease
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Drug abuse
Other conditions like asthma and diabetes may or may not be allowed. This is largely dependent on the company, so if you suffer from something like this, you may be denied by one company but find approval with another. To see where you can get the best rates with your conditions, check out Sproutt.com.
4. You Haven’t Been to the Doctor Recently
Insurance policies that don’t require an exam do still collect information from other sources. If you haven’t been to the doctor recently and can’t provide any records of your health, you may be denied coverage. This is especially true if you are above the age of 50, when health problems tend to increase and a report from a medical professional is crucial to assess the state of your health.
5. You’ve Filed for Bankruptcy
Health isn’t the only factor that life insurance carriers consider. Bankruptcy plays an important role in qualifying for life insurance, for a very simple reason: if you’ve declared bankruptcy, how can you ensure that you will have money to pay the monthly premiums for life insurance? The good news is that unless you are currently bankrupt, you have a chance of qualifying. Most companies prefer someone who has been out of bankruptcy for at least 5 years, but some offer approval for 2 years. Multiple bankruptcies will make it a lot harder to get approved, but like medical conditions, different carriers are less strict than others.
Who Will Qualify For Term No Exam Life Insurance?
The ideal candidate for a term no exam policy is someone who is under the age of 50, in relatively good health, and has no significant medical or financial history. However, just because you don’t fit that description (because that description is pretty narrow), you can still qualify for no exam life insurance, you may just have to search a bit harder to find a policy that’s right for you. In some cases, your application won’t be denied outright, but the insurance company will request that you get a medical exam. While the whole point of a no exam policy is to skip the medical exam, having to get it in the end may be a better option than being denied coverage entirely. No exam life insurance is certainly convenient, but remember, the point isn’t really to skip the exam, but to get the best possible coverage for your loved ones.
