Where Do Insurance Get Information About Applicants for No Exam Life Insurance?

No exam life insurance is a type of policy that allows you to get coverage without the need to undergo a medical exam. Most traditional life insurance policies require an exam because that’s how insurers assess the state of your health. This assessment is crucial for calculating a quote for monthly premiums.

Generally, the healthier a person is, the lower their premiums are. But health is not just a general category, there are many specific details that insurers look at. Age, gender, weight, and smoking status are basics, but other health details include whether you have high blood pressure, asthma, chronic diseases, serious medical conditions, drug/alcohol addiction, and more. The exam is when a medical practitioner culls this information and then passes it along to life insurance underwriters. 

With no exam life insurance, underwriters aren’t privy to information from a current medical exam. So how do life insurance companies come up with a quote for monthly premiums? How are you able to get an instant quote online?

Third-Party Sources

It turns out, there are plenty of ways to collect medical information about someone. Before you get nervous, all of these ways are legal and cannot be done without the applicant’s express permission. They include gathering prescription records, driving records, and even previous life insurance applications. 

So when you apply for no-exam life insurance, you get to skip the medical exam, but insurers will still be able to dig into your history to determine whether you are eligible and what your rates should be. 

Prescription Histories

Underwriters can look at your prescription history and tell a great deal about your current health. The way they get this information is through ExamOne and Milliman IntelliScript, two companies that gather prescription data from pharmacies and sell reports to insurers. When you apply for no-exam life insurance, the insurer can get these records within seconds, including drug name, dosage, fill date, the pharmacy that filled it out, and the prescribing physician. 

Lab Tests

ExamOne also has a service called “QuestCheck” that provides insurers with the results of recent lab tests. In some cases, these results can be more comprehensive than the lab tests taken at a life insurance medical exam

Public Records

Life insurance companies usually check applicants to see if they’ve been through recent bankruptcy. The reason for this is that companies want to make sure that applicants will be able to pay their monthly premiums if approved. Bankruptcy is a matter of public record, and LexisNexis helps insurers get this information when checking on applicants. 

Driving Records

Life insurance companies also care about driving records, since they show whether someone takes unnecessary risks while on the road. Speeding or driving under the influence are two red flags for insurance companies, and these can cause life insurance premiums to go up. Therefore, insurers usually request DMV records through LexisNexis and ExamOne.

Previous Life Insurance Applications

MIB (formerly the Medical Information Bureau) was founded in 1902 and it offers services to protect insurers and policyholders. One of its services is the sharing of applicants’ previous health insurance applications with insurance companies. So when you apply for life insurance, the life insurance company can request information from any previous life insurance applications you filled out. 

Speeding Up the Approval Process

The availability of digital data makes the approval process for no-exam life insurance much quicker than that of traditional life insurance. Digital data is available to the insurer in minutes or even seconds, so they can evaluate the applications they receive very quickly.

In fact, even certain traditional life insurance policies are turning to digital data to speed up the underwriting process. Accelerated underwriting is a process that insurers use for traditional policies. Similar to the way they collect digital information for no-exam policies, accelerated underwriting policies let certain applicants skip the medical exam in a league with all the digital data that’s collected. Only applicants who are quite healthy are able to qualify for this convenience. With no exam life insurance, applicants can be in any state of health in order to qualify. 

Benefits of No Exam Life Insurance

No exam life insurance is a popular alternative to traditional policies because it offers applicants the option of skipping the medical exam. This makes the entire application process much more convenient. In today’s world, where people are used to online shopping and next-day shipping, taking 4-8 weeks to buy life insurance just seems too long. No exam life insurance can offer instant approval, or take a few weeks at the maximum. The exact approval time depends on what type you apply for. If you need life insurance but don’t want to wait, a no-exam policy is a good option. 

Categories: Health

Nicolas Desjardins

Hello everyone, I am the main writer for SIND Canada. I've been writing articles for more than 12 years and I like sharing my knowledge. I'm currently writing for many websites and newspapers. I always keep myself very informed to give you the best information. All my years as a computer scientist made me become an incredible researcher. You can contact me on our forum or by email at [email protected].