Guide
No-exam life insurance
Which applicants qualify for fast underwriting, what the process looks like, and what happens if you don't qualify.
Many companies now offer accelerated underwriting: for people in certain age and amount ranges, decisions are made using just the application, scripts they find on file, traffic records, and other sources instead of a physical exam. Many approvals are back within hours. Each quote says whether that carrier requires an exam, may need one, or can move forward without.
What it changes
Skipping the exam doesn't mean skipping investigation. Your information gets checked, and a policy written based on wrong answers can be challenged in the first two years after it's issued. If information the carrier finds creates doubt, they might require testing anyway; at that point you decide whether to go forward.
Who tends to qualify
Typically folks under about 60 signing up for amounts under the carrier's accelerated ceiling, without serious illness and with no tobacco in the past year or longer. Some carriers will take recent results from a doctor's visit with blood work instead of scheduling an exam.
Should you need an exam, it's typically a 20- to 40-minute visit by a paramedic sent to you—at your home or your workplace somewhere in the Camarillo region—without charge. Results often give healthy people a better classification, so the exam frequently turns out to be an advantage.