One of the things many people look for in a term life insurance policy is just to be done with it. They want to get their quote, pay their premiums and forget about it. They don’t want to go through the hassle of a medical exam or some long drawn-out process. Most life insurance policies today don’t require a medical exam, either. Term life insurance is inexpensive enough that most folks can get a policy for a fair price without a lot of hassle.

Still, if you want the best possible deal on life insurance, you should consider one that may require an exam.

There are, essentially, three different ways you can go about getting your term life insurance. There are underwritten term life insurance policies, there are simplified issue term life insurance policies, and there are guaranteed term life insurance policies. Each of these types of policies has their own unique way of approaching your current health situation, and therefore a different type of requirement in terms of whether or not you need to have a medical exam.

Underwritten Policies: Value, but at a Cost

An underwritten term life insurance policy requires you to provide the insurance company with a great deal of information about your current and past health status. You’ll have to answer an extensive questionnaire on both your own personal medical history and on your family medical history, as well.

This type of policy is a good idea for someone with few health problems and with little or no family history of health problems. By creating this kind of a profile, the insurance company is able to assess the amount of risk that you’ll pass away and actually have to cash in the policy. They can then price the policy according to that risk.

Guaranteed Policies: Guaranteed Coverage, Higher Premiums

On the other end of the spectrum are guaranteed policies. These types of term life insurance policies require no medical exams and no extensive questionnaires. They may ask about your age and a very few significant risk factors, such as smoking, but in general they won’t collect more than a few pieces of health information.

Coverage with this type of policy is guaranteed – but it also comes at a higher price. With guaranteed coverage, the life insurance company may assume certain risks that don’t exist in your case, and you’ll pay for them in your premiums.

Simplified Issue Policies: A Happy Medium

A simplified issue policy falls somewhere in between these two extremes. With this kind of policy, you’ll have to fill out a questionnaire about your health history and may need to sign a release form so that your health care providers can release information to the company. With these kinds of policies, premiums will fall in the middle and you won’t be covered if you die as a result of a preexisting condition that the insurance company is able to identify in your questionnaire or in your medical records.

Photo via Robert S. Donovan