Fully Underwritten Life Insurance – The Right Choice Insurance Group

A fast and convenient process to purchase fully underwritten life

Fully Underwritten Life Insurance Information

Read below to learn more about fully underwritten term and permanent life insurance products, including commonly asked questions. If you have additional questions, please give us a call!

What are fully underwritten products?

With fully underwritten life insurance the available coverage amounts are higher compared to instant issue life insurance, plus the underwriting process can handle specific lifestyle situations, such as health issues, international travel or high face amounts that instant issue insurance cannot accommodate. You can purchase face amounts, which is how much would be paid in the event of your death, ranging from $50,000 all the way up to $10 million and coverage terms that range from 10 to 30 years. Fully underwritten life insurance requires a more thorough process to qualify than an instant issue product and may include some form of a medical exam.

Who am I dealing with?

We only offer products with well established, highly rated insurance companies.

How long is the application process?

We will work with you to make the process as quick and as painless as possible. The time it takes to issue a policy will depend on the type of policy you have requested and the degree to which you have medical or other issues that need to be discussed with the insurance company. The process can typically take 30 to 60 days.

What does the underwriting process consider?

The criteria that are analyzed by a life insurance underwriter can include the following:

Applicant’s current age
Applicant’s gender
Height and weight of the applicant
Health history (in addition to family health history of the applicant’s parents and siblings)
The purpose of the insurance policy (estate planning, business, or individual life insurance)
Applicant’s marital status
Applicant’s children, if any
The amount of life insurance already in force by the applicant, as well as any additional life insurance that the applicant intends to purchase
Applicant’s occupation
Applicant’s income as income can help determine the suitability of the amount of life insurance
Applicant’s smoking habits or tobacco use
Use of alcohol by the applicant
Hobbies that the applicant engages in. Some hobbies are considered hazardous, such as rock climbing or hang gliding and are considered high risk.
Amount of foreign travel that the applicant engages in as some types of foreign travel are considered risky

All of the above factors are considered to be elements of risk. Each is analyzed and factored in by the life insurance underwriters prior to an approval or rejection decision being made. Therefore, prior to applying for life insurance coverage, it is important to understand how underwriting works, as well as how different factors could affect the possibility of being accepted or rejected for coverage. Those applicants who have been rejected due to risk factors can still apply for high risk life insurance.

What kind of medical exam will I have to take?

The short answer is that it depends on your age and the type of coverage you are applying for. For lower face amounts it may well be the case that you will not have an actual exam. In other situations you may be required to have either a paramedical or full medical exam.

What is a Paramedical Exam?

A trained technician will complete the paramedical exam. The paramedic asks medical history questions and measures height, weight, blood pressure and pulse. Depending upon your age and the amount of insurance being applied for, the paramedic may also perform an oral fluid test or a blood and urine test and possibly an electrocardiogram as well. In most cases a paramedic will call you to find a convenient time to schedule the exam and come out to your house to perform it. You also have the option of going to a clinic for the exam. The exam takes approximately 30 minutes.

What is a Full Medical Exam?

A physician will complete the full medical exam. The exam consists of the same elements of the paramedical exam, plus listening to the heart, and a review of other bodily systems. Some companies specify that the physician must be a board certified internist or heart specialist rather than a general practitioner.

In addition to the exam, any of the following studies could be included with the exam: oral fluid test; blood test; urinalysis; EKG tracing; and Attending Physician’s Statement. If any of these exams or tests becomes required and they are not completed, the company will not accept your application for life insurance.

What do the underwriting tests show?

The insurance company wants to check for any unknown conditions that could adversely impact an individual’s normal life expectancy and could increase the company’s risk. The urinalysis screens for a number of things including diabetes, the presence of medication and nicotine and cocaine, as well as general kidney function. The blood profile can reveal the functioning of organs of the body and specific testing for things such as diabetes, liver impairments and kidney impairments as well as HIV testing. An oral fluid test can indicate the presence of HIV antibodies, as well as cocaine and nicotine.

What other information does an insurance company gather?

In addition, the company may want to review your medical records or obtain a phone interview with you. Medical records can be obtained for a few reasons, with one being a way to check how your personal physician is treating you or has treated you for a medical condition.

At times a phone interview is conducted to verify the information on the application and to obtain a few additional details to clarify this information.

Most life insurers are members of a non‐profit organization called MIB Inc. This organization maintains a database of applications submitted to companies in the industry. Once an application and signed authorization is received, insurers will check with MIB to see if there is a record of any other insurance applications you may have submitted in the past. The MIB provides a report to the insurance company and such reports are kept highly confidential. This report acts as a fraud deterrent for people who may not want to reveal prior insurance activity.

How are the results used?

The information gathered on the application and from the other requirements is used to classify the risk a person presents. Based on the level of risk, the proposed insured is approved, declined or assigned a rating level. Each company has its own rating and based on this your proposed premium is determined.

What if an exam reveals an unknown medical problem?

Remember most people that undergo medical exams qualify for insurance without any concerns. In the unlikely event a problem is discovered, we may postpone the application until the findings are evaluated by your personal physician.

What is the decision that will be made?

One of four things will happen:

Your coverage will be approved at the same rate for which you applied.
Your coverage will be approved at a cheaper rate than that for which you applied.
Additional premium will be required for the amount of insurance for which you applied.
Coverage will be denied.

In the event that coverage is denied or you are quoted a higher premium we will work with you to review alternatives.

What if I disagree with the decision?

If you disagree with the decision, you may put your concerns in writing and send them to the insurance company. We would work with you to find coverage that takes account of any issues that may exist. It may mean furnishing additional information from your physician. Also, a rating or declination is not always permanent. Quitting smoking, losing weight, lowering your cholesterol, among other things, can all help change your risk classification over time.

Why do I have to provide my email address?

As much of the process is internet based this application process requires that you enter your email address so that we can email you a link to e-sign your application.

Do I have to sign my application?

For most insurance company applications we use an electronic signature approach. This speeds up the whole process and allows us to complete the process in minutes, rather than days. This e-signature is 100% valid under Federal E-sign Law.

What if I withhold pertinent information?

If it sounds tempting to shortcut this process by withholding information or outright lying, don’t do it. Policies that were sold based on applications that contained misleading information can be voided at claim time. False information on insurance applications is fraud.

Insurers will likely report your medical exam results (reported as numbered codes) to MIB (formerly called the Medical Information Bureau), which maintains a database of those who have applied for life, health, disability and other insurance in the last seven years. If you’ve given different answers to medical questions in the past, it will raise a red flag with MIB. The goal of the MIB database is to reduce fraud.

Insurance products are sold through COVR Financial Technologies LLC (“Covr”). Covr sells insurance as an agent or broker by contractual agreements with its insurance carrier providers. COVR is licensed in the following states: Delaware (3000067942), Idaho (607086), California (0L77229). All other state license numbers are available here.