Category: Blog
The paramed exam (life insurance medical exam) will make or break your life insurance underwriting outcome.
Here’s how to make it a positive experience.
Paramed exams consist of a personal medical history interview and a brief life insurance medical exam.
Your height, weight, blood pressure, and pulse will be checked.
Blood and urine samples may be required.
A resting EKG is necessary for some cases.
The exam is the same whether you buy term life insurance or universal life.
Special Underwriting Notes:
Special note for cigar smoking and chewing tobacco programs.
If your quote requires a negative urine sample, make sure you stop long enough beforehand to ensure the negative test.
Here’s ExamOne’s consumer guide to help you prepare.
If you need a quick overview of the entire application process, our Life Insurance 101 guide is helpful.
FAQs
The most common questions we receive from clients include:
Life insurance medical exams test for elevated blood sugar levels, kidney functions, liver functions, cholesterol, hepatitis, blood cell counts, PSA levels, illegal drugs, cotinine, etc.
Yes, your lab results are available soon after completing your paramed exam. Your agent can help you get a copy too.
The life insurance companies pay for the
No, in fact, more and more companies are eliminating the
In most cases, no. If you end up with unfavorable lab results it will be easier to move you to another life insurer.
The examiner collects a few small vials of blood and gives you a cup to collect the urine…and no, they don’t come into the bathroom with you.
The more life insurance you apply for, the greater the paramed exam requirements.
You have a choice between having the paramed at home or you may visit a local facility, which is usually a Quest Diagnostics lab.
Yes, the paramedical examiner will record three blood pressure readings and check your pulse.
Paramed exams are good for 6-12 months depending on your age and company you apply to.
Yes, your exam may be used with another life insurance company.
Coronavirus Paramed Exam Update – ExamOne is still completing exams subject to the following:
If you answer “yes” to either question, ExamOne will postpone scheduling your exam for a minimum of 14 days.
Have you been diagnosed with or treated for:
It’s important to let the examiner know about all physicians you’ve used in the event medical records are needed.
When possible, we use Human API to speed the medical records process.
The life insurance paramedical will require blood and urine samples.
What do they test with your blood sample?
The above are the most common tests performed.
Reflexive testing is more specific testing due to an elevation of one of the above lab tests.
Life insurers will soon have another tool at their disposal.
ExamOne recently released their new LabPiQture product.
This allows life insurers to access all Quest Diagnostic lab test results in your medical files.
More companies are implementing senior life insurance underwriting requirements.
Examples of tests include:
Chair Stand Test – You may be asked to sit in a chair and stand up without having to use your arms.
This test may be repeated a few times throughout the exam.
Clock Drawing Test – You’ll be asked to draw a clock with the numbers 1-12 on the clock.
You may then be asked to draw the hands of the clock at a certain time.
Gait Test – Assesses the insured’s ability to walk at their normal pace across a room and back.
Word Recall Test – The examiner will tell you 5 words they want you to remember.
At some point during the exam, they will ask you to recall those words.
Each company has different criteria.
You may be asked to complete some of the above with one company, but not another.
We’ll let you know if your paramed exam may involve one of these tests.
Paramed exams are not as bad as some agents make them out to be.
In many cases, the life insurance medical exam takes 25-45 minutes to complete.
We’ll schedule your
We use ExamOne whenever possible as it’s part of Quest Diagnostics.
They offer convenient locations and have been the most consistent paramedi exam company.
We’ll prep you ahead of time to ensure that you know what to expect. We work for you, not the life insurance company.
Our goal is to help you find your best term life insurance rate based on your medical history.
Thank you.
We take our responsibility seriously and will do whatever we can to make sure you end up with the best life insurance company based on your unique life insurance needs and situation.
Kind words from happy customers who have a lot to say about our service!