Life Insurance Medical exam

Purpose of the Life Insurance Medical Exam When a person is looking for affordable life insurance, a medical exam is often a prerequisite. Many insurance companies require a medical exam for all or some of their applicants. The purpose of the exam is to assess the risk of insuring a person and to determine whether there are any health conditions that could negatively affect an applicant's life expectancy. Even when applying for life insurance online, a medical exam may be necessary. Advantages For most applicants, the medical exam should not pose any problems. Moreover, the results of the medical exam can assist an applicant in securing low cost life insurance. If an applicant proves to be in good health and demonstrates no negative lifestyle issues, such as heavy drinking or smoking, an insurance company will be more likely to rate the applicant in its preferred status and offer more favorable life insurance premiums. Disadvantages The downside to the medical exam is that it can identify underlying health problems that could result in an applicant being denied coverage or placed in a less-than-preferred status. This will often be a major reason for a person being unable to obtain low cost life insurance. If an applicant for online life insurance actually has health problems that could affect life expectancy, there is nothing to be done if the medical exam concludes that these conditions exist. However, a medical exam may actually report a "false positive" result, or something that appears to be serious but is actually an indication of something more benign. To help avoid such a result, there are several important elements to consider when preparing for a medical exam.