What Will Be Done During The Exam?
When a medical exam is done in order for you to receive life insurance, there are a number of things that you can expect to be done. Don't worry, though, the exam is minimally invasive. It is used to gather information about your health in order to make a determination regarding your coverage.
After the insurance company receives the result and they underwrite your policy, you can request your results. This can help you to change areas of your life so that you can better your health. For some, they are not aware of any issues until this exam and can then make changes that could very well save their lives.
Why an Exam?
When a life insurance company insures you, they take a risk. Their job is to provide a death benefit to your beneficiaries in the event of your death, but they want to delay that as long as possible. Although you don't have control of when it is your time to leave this world, the insurance company can at least have some idea of what kind of risk they are taking.
For instance, a person who smokes is going to pose a high risk for heart disease, lung cancer, and a variety of other problems. The same applies to an individual who drinks or is obese. There are health risks that cause the insurance company to take a risk. They offset that risk by increasing the premium above what a person without such risks would pay.
The health exam is also designed to look for certain health conditions. These conditions can include cholesterol and other lipids, HIV, diabetes, kidney disorders, hepatitis, and a number of other items. Both blood and urine tests are done to look for these conditions.
What is Done?
You are going to be asked a variety of questions regarding your family health history, as well as your own. Of course your own won't be so hard to remember. It will be your family history that may be difficult, so find out what you can before the exam takes place. This information will show how susceptible or not susceptible you are to certain diseases.
Make sure you disclose everything because just because a family member had a condition doesn't mean you will get it. As a matter of fact, there are some conditions that an immediate family member can have that eliminate your chances of getting it almost completely. This is based upon the behavior of some conditions based upon genetics. For instance, you could tell the health examiner that cancer runs in your family, which suggests you are at a high risk of cancer. But if you state that a family member developed a non-genetic form of cancer, then that doesn't increase your cancer risk.
The individual conducting the exam will check your blood pressure in addition to the urine and blood test. You will also have your height and your weight checked. High blood pressure and obesity are risk indicators. Even being underweight increases health risk, so checking weight is also checking for this. The information of height and weight is necessary to determine your body mass index, which is a good indicator of certain health problems developing.
The process is a relatively fast one. It usually does not take more than thirty minutes to complete what will be done during the exam. Once the specimens are taken, you will sign paperwork stating that you did provide the specimens and that you agree that the information be transmitted to the insurance company so that they can make their determination about your health.
