Guide
No-exam life insurance
How applicants qualify for accelerated underwriting decisions, what the process involves, and what happens if accelerated underwriting isn't available to you.
Many carriers now offer accelerated underwriting: for applicants within specific age and coverage amount ranges, they make decisions using information from your application, prescription databases, driving records, and other available data without requiring a doctor's exam. In many cases, approval decisions come within one business day. The quotes shown here indicate for each product whether an exam is required, possibly required, or typically waived.
What it changes
Accelerated processes don't bypass underwriting altogether. The carrier verifies your statements, and a policy issued based on dishonest answers might be challenged during the first 24 months. Should the carrier uncover concerns in their own records, they may request an exam or additional testing; at that point you decide whether to go forward.
Who tends to qualify
Typically younger applicants (under around 60) seeking amounts within the carrier's accelerated program limits, with no significant health issues and no tobacco consumption within the past year or longer. For applicants with recent medical appointments that included lab testing, some carriers accept those existing results instead of requiring a new exam.
If an exam becomes necessary, you'd typically have a 20 to 30-minute appointment with a paramedic at your home or workplace in the Thousand Oaks area, and there's no cost to you. For applicants in good health, test results often lead to a better rate class, so an exam requirement isn't necessarily disadvantageous.