Guide
No-exam life insurance
What kinds of applicants qualify for accelerated underwriting, how the expedited process works, and what happens when a carrier requires additional verification.
Modern underwriting includes accelerated options: for applicants in specified age and amount ranges, carriers make decisions based on your application, medical records, driving history and other databases rather than scheduling a physical exam. Approvals sometimes arrive the same day. This site shows for each quote whether an exam is required, might be required, or isn't required for that product.
What it changes
No exam doesn't mean no underwriting. Your statements get checked, and a policy issued based on inaccurate answers can be challenged in the first two years. If the carrier's own records or data turn up questions, they can still require an exam or blood work; at that stage you can decide whether to move forward.
Who tends to qualify
Usually these are applicants younger than sixty applying for amounts within the carrier's accelerated underwriting cap, with no substantial health issues and no tobacco or nicotine in the prior year. If you've had a medical visit with labs recently, some carriers will use those results in place of scheduling an exam.
When an exam is ordered, it typically means a 20 to 30 minute appointment with a paramedic who visits your home or workplace in the Alameda area, at no cost to you. For people in good health, exam results can actually lead to a better rate class, so having to do one isn't necessarily bad.