Guide
No-exam life insurance
Who qualifies for no-exam decisions, how the process works, and what happens if you don't qualify.
Many carriers now offer accelerated underwriting: for applicants in certain age and amount brackets, they decide using the application, prescription records, driving records and other sources instead of a paramedical exam. Some decisions come back the same day. Your quote shows whether that product requires an exam, possibly requires one, or doesn't require one.
What it changes
Accelerated underwriting still means underwriting—your answers are checked. A policy issued on false answers can be challenged in the first two years. If the carrier's background search raises questions, they may still ask for an exam or labs, and you can decide whether to proceed.
Who tends to qualify
Usually people under around 60, applying for amounts up to the carrier's threshold, with no serious health history and no tobacco use in the last year. If you've had recent bloodwork from a doctor visit, some carriers will use those results instead of ordering an exam.
If an exam is required, it's normally a 20 to 30 minute visit by a paramedical professional at your home or office in the Daly City area, at no cost to you. For healthy applicants, exam results often improve your rate class, so an exam isn't automatically a disadvantage.