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If you are currently in the process of shopping for life insurance, you may have come across the term no medical life insurance and might be wondering what the difference between no medical life insurance and traditional life insurance is.
Simply put, no medical life insurance means an insurance application for which you do not have to do any medical tests. By medical tests, I mean blood test, urine tests, vitals, or ECG's. Although we won't get into the discussion of different types of insurance applications on this post we wanted to just mention some of the myths that have that we have heard over time regarding no medical life insurance.
Myth #1: no medical insurance means no medical information is be being asked.
Reality: Medical insurance means that there are no actual physical medical exams being done to assess the application. However that doesn't mean that there are no medical questions in fact that is the only way that the company can accurately assess the risk when underwriting and insurance application. Although questions are worded very differently on a simplified application versus a traditional application, there would still be medical questions needed to be answered in order to qualify for coverage.
Myth #2: no medical insurance doesn't cover as much as regular insurance.
Reality: as mentioned in other posts, life insurance covers the death of the insured person. If someone has a $500,000 in coverage, whether it be a no medical policy or a fully underwritten policy, the actual type of coverage does not change. There are no additional exclusions, no additional fine print, and no additional terms and conditions when compared to a traditional policy.
Myth #3: no medical insurance has no underwriting.
Reality: medical underwriting is the process through which an insurance company determines the amount of risk that an applicant represents when they are applying for coverage. No medical policies still have to be underwritten and, even though there are no medical exams, people can still be declined for insurance coverage. Just because there are no medical tests does not mean that the insurance company will not check and verify that the answers given during the application are true and accurate.
Myth #4: no medical policies are underwritten at the time of claim.
Reality: this is simply just false. We have to make sure that we do not confuse no medical policies with creditor insurance coverage like the ones issued by banks and lending institutions. Any life insurance policy that you purchase through a licensed insurance advisor (not a bank or a mortgage broker) is underwritten at the time of application, not at the time of claim.
Myth #5: no medical insurance has a waiting period.
Reality: Although there are some insurance products that do offer a deferred coverage, this is not the standard for no medical policies. Unless your policy or contract specifically says that it is a deferred policy, there are no waiting periods when it comes to life insurance. Your insurance coverage will always begin on the date that your application is approved.
If you would like to learn more about the differences between no medical insurance, traditional insurance, simplified insurance or guaranteed acceptance feel free to schedule a call.