I'm
always a little suspect of someone who
recommends or sells something they
themselves haven't purchased. I
found this often with long term
insurance. "Do you have a long
term policy?", I would ask the broker.
A look down at the ground and a flimsy "no" usually
preceded a list of excuses. So, I
decided to
purchase term life insurance
and give my account of the actual
paramedical exam that we discuss so
often throughout our term life articles.
Let's take a walkthrough my actual
paramedical exam.
After
I completed the
term life application, a
nurse contacted me about 3-4 days later
to set up the paramedical exam.
She would come to my house for the
actual exam and we arranged a later day in
the week. She arrived as expected
with essentially a travel suitcase and
my file. The life insurance
company pays for the paramedical exam so
I am not required to pay anything during
the time of the visit.
We
first sat down and after a little small
talk (she knew my father-in-law), we
then discussed the health and history
questionnaire. The great thing
about the person giving the paramedical
exam is that he/she knows exactly what
to ask and to what degree of detail.
I wanted to make sure to provide all the
necessary information and having a
knowledgeable person made me feel much
more secure in doing so. She went
through some of my general information relating to
health status, history, driving history,
and family health history both medical
and physical. I have elevated
cholesterol so she asked some questions
on this. Interestingly, my
cholesterol level was not an issue for
life insurance qualification but
probably would have been for health
insurance. We went through some of
the more serious issues...a litany of
health conditions that would impact life
insurance underwriting. Luckily, I
could answer "no" to those. There
was a question of headaches or such for
which I answered "yes". I have had
migraines since about age 13. She
had a series of follow up questions
relating to this...maybe 3-4.
Having gone through migraine headaches,
I can understand why they have
questions. It really is a pretty
harrowing event. The follow up
questions centered around how often,
medication/treatment, and if a doctor
has evaluated it.
During the paramedical exam, she also
asked questions about family health
history and status. There were
some issues which I gave her information
for. Following this general
information, we then went into more of
the physical exam part of the
paramedical. First, she measured
my
height and weight which can affect
life insurance rates depending on their
ratio (BMI). She also took two
separate readings of blood pressure and
pulse, both of which were good in my
case. The double sets is to make
sure one wasn't a fluke. I think
she wrote down both results. Next
comes the actual blood draw. The
great news is that as a paramedical
nurse, she was a pro at drawing blood.
If you think about it, she does it all
day long. I hate needles but it
wasn't bad with her quick sleight of hand.
That was basically it. I signed
the page with the information she had
recorded. I believe that I signed
a HIV notification form and a
life application HIPAA
authorization which allows them to
request information from my doctor.
I don't believe they did but it's
possible. The entire paramedical
exam probably took about 30 minutes with
5-10 minutes being small talk. It
was pretty painless for a life insurance
paramedical. She left a copy of
the information she had received from
me. About 7 business days after
the actual exam, I received a copy of my
results. It was pretty
interesting. Cholesterol was
elevated as expected but everything else
looked okay.
It
was now out of my hands. The life
insurance company will take this
information and decide if I'm eligible
for the policy I requested and at what
rate. I have made it through the
paramedical exam and ultimately, I was
offered my chosen plan at the best rate.
We'll do everything we can as your
life
insurance broker to make it a smooth
process for you.
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