Do I Need to Take a Medical Exam if I’m Over 50

Life insurance is one of the most important investments that you’ll ever make for your loved ones. It’s vital that your family has the money that they need, even if something were to happen to you.

If you’re over the age of 50, you might assume that life insurance is going to be too expensive to fit in your budget.

Not having life insurance is one of the worst mistakes that you could ever make for your loved ones. If you were to pass away, and you didn’t have a life insurance plan in place, your family would be stranded with a massive amount of debt and other final expenses.

Shopping for Life Insurance

When you’re looking for the perfect life insurance plan possible, it’s vital that you decide which type of plan is going to be best for you. There are several different types of affordable 50+life insurance plans that you need to consider to ensure that you’re getting the best plan possible. 

One of the most common types of life insurance is a no exam policy. As you can guess from the name, these plans allow you to get life insurance without the medical exam.

For some people, skipping the medical exam is one of the best things about these plans. It’s important that you find the best plan, and these plans have several unique advantages that you should be aware.

Here’s one thought though before we get into it.  Some people think that if a company doesn’t require an exam that maybe the company is taking too much risk and that worries some people.

The thinking being that if the insurance company isn’t requiring you to do a medical exam then perhaps they aren’t a real strong and stable company.

Know that you are still going to go through an underwriting process even if they don’t require an exam.  They are going to do to run a prescription drug check, run your DMV report, your MIB report, and some companies will obtain your medical records if they feel it’s necessary.

Also, as we mention below no exam life insurance does cost a a bit more, and they also limit the amount of coverage they will offer.

Life Insurance After 50

When you apply for life insurance, the insurance company is going to review dozens of different factors when they are deciding how much they are going to charge you for coverage or if they will accept your application for protection.

One of the most significant factors that they are going to review is your age. The older that you are, the more that you’re going to pay and the higher risk that you’re going to be for coverage.

If you’re over the age of 50, then you might assume that you’re going to pay a lot more for your life insurance or that you’ll be declined for coverage.

In most cases, that couldn’t be further from the truth. There are several ways that you can get affordable life insurance protection, regardless of how old that you are.

The older that you are, the more likely that you are to have been diagnosed with a severe health complication. If you aren’t in perfect health, then you should expect to get much higher rates. That’s where a no exam plan could be the best option.

With these plans, the insurance company won’t get a current picture of your health. If your health has declined in the past years since you’ve been to the doctor, then your insurance rates aren’t going to be impacted.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a No Exam Plan After 50

One of the most notable benefits of these policies is how quickly you can get approved for life insurance. With a traditional plan that requires a medical exam, you’re going to have to wait about four to six weeks or more to get life insurance.

With a no exam plan, on the other hand, you can be approved for life insurance in a matter of days. In fact, there are some companies with accelerated underwriting, that will allow you to get life insurance in a matter of hours, or even minutes.

Another advantage to no exam life insurance is if you haven’t had a physical for a couple years or more.  You never know for sure if for instance your cholesterol might now be elevated or if you have some other even relatively smaller health issue that you previously weren’t aware of.

If you go with a life insurance plan that requires an exam and it’s discovered that your cholesterol is found to be elevated as an example then you won’t be able to get the best rates.

We recently helped a 53 year old man secure a $250,000 15 year level term policy.  He was in very good shape and presumably would be able to qualify for the best rates with any insurance company.

However, he hadn’t had a physical in about 2 and half years.  He knew he was due for a check up, but he just hadn’t gotten around to it.

His options were to go with a company that would require an exam and if he qualified for the best rates he would have to pay about $42 a month.  He also had a no exam option which would cost about $47 if he could get the best rates.

He opted for the no exam for two reasons.

One, just in case his labs came back and something was discovered he wasn’t aware of.   If so his rates could have increased substantially.  Perhaps doubling or even tripling or even worse being declined for coverage.  Since it was only about a $5 difference he opted for the no exam plan.

The other nice advantage to the no exam plan is the convenience factor.  He worked a lot and had to travel quite a bit for work.  As a result making the time for the examiner to come out to see him was just one more thing to add to his to do list.

There are several drawbacks of these plans as well. One of the most notable is what we just talked about.

You’re going to have to pay more for your life insurance protection. Without the medical exam, the insurance company is taking a higher risk because they don’t know how much risk that you are to insure.

Without being able to review your medical exam and the additional health information this provides, they are going to offset the additional risk by charging you higher rates.

If you want the lowest rates, then you will need to apply for a traditional insurance policy that requires a medical exam.

Another reason to want to go with a company that requires a medical exam is if you have a known health issue.

Perhaps you have diabetes and high blood pressure, and you know that you’ve gotten your blood pressure down and your diabetes is now well under control.

If that’s the case you may want to to complete an exam to show how much your health has improved.

The decision on whether to take an exam or not is going to vary depending upon your specific medical history and the type of life insurance product you need to purchase.

It’s important to know that a serious disadvantage to no exam life insurance is that you’re going to be severely limited on the amount of life insurance that you can buy.

Most insurance companies are going to restrict how much you can buy, and many will only allow you to buy around $400,000 worth of coverage.

Some companies will let you buy $250,000 while others will extend that to $500,000. For many families, that isn’t going to be nearly enough life insurance protection.

Not having enough coverage is going to be one of the worst mistakes that you could ever make for your loved ones.

Over 50? No Exam is not the Only Option

At Over50LifeInsure.com, it’s our mission to ensure that you’ve got the best life insurance plan possible. We hear a lot of applicants that assume that no exam life insurance is the only option, but that’s not true.

Regardless of your age, you can still qualify for a traditional plan with an exam. These policies are going to give you more coverage at a lower premium rate.

Every insurance company is different, and all of them have different medical underwriting and will view your age differently. That means that some companies are going to give you lower rates while others are going to charge you expensive premiums.

Because every company is different, it’s important that you compare dozens of companies before you decide which one is best for you.

There are hundreds of companies on the market, and all of them are going to offer different rates. Finding the best company is the difference in getting an affordable policy or one that will break your bank because of your age.

Or it could be the difference in getting approved for a normal plan or getting rejected because you’re over 50.

Instead of wasting hours and hours calling companies yourself, let one of our independent insurance brokers do all of the hard work for you. Unlike a traditional agent, we work with more than one company.

In fact, we work with dozens and dozens of highly rated companies across the nation, and we can bring a personalized set of quotes directly to you.

If you have any questions about getting no exam life insurance over 50, please contact one of our agents today.