No Exam Whole Life Insurance Explained

What is whole life insurance without an exam?

Simply put, it is a life insurance that does not require an insurance exam as part of the underwriting process. In most cases, only an application is needed and possibly a quick phone interview. Once these requirements have been met, you should have a final answer on your application within 24 hours. Some of these life insurance plans are really simplified in that they do not even ask any health questions; while, some will not require an exam but request medical records (although that is very rare). With most plans, a variety of health questions need to be answered and those questions can greatly vary from company to company. Keep in mind that the less you need to do to qualify for the policy the higher the premiums and/or lower the benefits (read you policy carefully when it arrives!)

How much No Exam Whole Life Insurance can a person qualify for?

If there is one major difference that distinguishes a no exam life policy with exam required life insurance, it is the size of the face amount. Depending on the insured's age, no exam whole life face amounts may be limited to as little as $15,000 and be as high as $200,000. For example, an 85 year old may be able to only qualify for a maximum of $20,000 in no exam whole life while a person under the age of 50 may be able to get as much as $200,000. The amount of insurance that you apply for does not usually affect the underwriting process.

What riders are available with No Exam Whole Life insurance?

The second mot common difference between no exam whole life and full underwriting life insurance (exam required and more) is the riders. In most no exam plans riders may be limited to just accidental life insurance. With that rider, if the insured dies in an accident, the regular death benefit plus and additional death benefit is paid to the insured. Other riders such as the waiver of premium, other insured rider, child rider... may not be available. Rider availability may also be greatly affected by the insured's age. In many no exam whole life plans, we have seen the critical illness rider automatically included. Due to the many types of critical illness riders available, I suggest you ask your insurance company or broker about them.

What if you have pre-existing health conditions?

If there is one big benefit that no exam whole life can provide individuals, it is its flexibility of approval and wide acceptance of past or present health issues. With no exam whole life insurance, in many cases, pre-existing as well as past health conditions can be acceptable for underwriting. It can often be the only plan that will allow someone to get quality life insurance... Please note that in some cases the insured may only qualify for a graded or modified plan as opposed to a level plan. A modified or grade whole life will usually limit the amount of the death benefit during the first two to three year of the policy. Note that, just because one insurance company has declined you, does not automatically mean that others will to. If you have been declined for no exam whole life, keep looking and be as specific as possible in your online search. For example, if you are a diabetic you may want to type in "no exam whole life insurance for a diabetic". Some insurance companies may specialize in a certain illness while another may not. One more thing, if have previously been declined (usually in the past one to two years) some insurance companies may not offer you any coverage. Try to avoid a decline but don't worry, most companies we have seen do not care to ask about your previous declines.

Things to look out for in the no exam whole life plans

Not all No Exam Whole Life plans are the same. A lower premium on one plan that seems to be the similar to another may actually indicate major differences. One difference could be in future automatic death benefit changes. Many people are aware of the limited death benefit we mentioned above in the case of a graded or modified no exam whole life insurance. Few look at the later years of a policy. For example, if you examine your policy, the benefit page should show you the death benefit value on a year by year basis.

If you bought a $25,000 policy then it should show $25,000 from the first year of the policy all the way to age 120.

If the policy you bought is a graded or modified plan, the first few years (usually 2 to 3) may show a smaller death benefit that but later years should show a level death benefit for life. For example, you bought a $25,000 life insurance policy, the first year may show a death benefit of $5,000, the second year may show a death benefit of $12,000 and from year three and on, the death benefit should be for the full value of the policy at $25,000.

Beware of policies that have decreasing face amounts either year after year or by a certain age (often age 75). For example, a policy may start with a death benefit of $50,000 but decreases to a death benefit of $25,000 by age 70 and continue decreasing after that. Please read your policy proposal pages carefully and ask questions.

What type of individual is most likely to apply for no exam whole life?

We have seen people of all ages show an interest in no exam whole life but the most popular ages are between the 1 and 12 and 70 and 85+. For younger ages, you may see these plans offered as children whole life or grandchildren whole life insurance. With older ages, you may have seen these plans called final expense whole life, burial life insurance, senior whole life or some other variations of these names.

I hope that this article has given you a better understanding of what is no exam whole life insurance. Note that it is your responsibility to make sure that you have the plan you think you have so read your policy carefully when it arrives. As we say in all of our articles, please ask a lot of questions before during and after you have applied for your life insurance. Be well!

Philippe Deray - About the Author: Philippe Deray is President and CEO of MCD Financial Services and MCD Life. Our web site address is http://www.mcdlife.com/no_medical_exam_life_insurance/whole_life/no_exam_whole_life_insurance.htm

Our Focus No Exam Whole Life Insurance
With many years of experience in the insurance business, we have developed proprietary methods to help individuals get affordable no exam whole insurance. We also offer term life insurance and universal life insurance. We will make this process as simple as possible and get you an answer as fast as possible. We accept people between the ages of 0 to 85!

Company Profile
MCD Life is a successful, dynamic company built on the principal of serving our customers FIRST! Our primary mission is to bring peace of mind to our clients by offering innovative, value-added products and information that place emphasis on short and long term benefits, benefits backed by selected companies with high quality assets and written guarantees.