Life Insurance and Medical Exams - Why are they required?

Why do life insurance companies require you to take a medical exam to purchase a life insurance policy?

Life insurers review the information provided by your medical exam to determine if you are a good risk for life insurance. They want to understand your health, and try to determine how long they expect you to live. That way, they can estimate how much you will pay them over the years you are insured, before you might pass away.

A medical exam can check your blood pressure, ask you additional health questions, request information about your personal doctors and any prescriptions you take, and take a sample of your blood to have it tested by a laboratory.

The results of any blood tests should identify if you have any tobacco in your system, if you use any legal or illegal drugs, if you have high cholesterol, high protein levels, and STD's including HIV/AIDS, or if you have diabetes, or any other health issue.

The medical exam is paid for by the life insurance company. If you disagree with the test results, you may request another exam or blood yes, but they may not allow it, or perhaps they may not pay for the second test.

In addition, some insurers do not require life insurance medical exams. Here's how you can learn about life insurance with no medical exams required.