Instant Approval Life insurance, How to Avoid the Underwriting Process

You are probably familiar with the standard process of getting life insurance. This usually includes a 4 to 8 -week underwriting process.

In most cases, you will have to deal with an underwriting process. During this process, the life insurance company looks at your health information. This includes your family’s health history, the prescriptions you’re on or have been on, your medical issues, and more.

This process exists because the company wants to evaluate the risk of insuring the applicant. This process allows the life insurance company to accurately determine the coverage of the applicant and set the premium too.

The entire underwriting process can take 4 to 8 weeks, so it isn’t the most efficient way to get life insurance. The exam is free for applicants so it doesn’t cost you any extra money. It can be a pain to deal with though.

This standard form of life insurance with an underwriting process is definitely not your only option. There is a type of life insurance called instant approval life insurance. This type of life insurance bypasses the exam and all of the underwriting. As you can imagine, it’s much quicker.

This life insurance can also be called no exam life insurance because that’s exactly what it is. Instant approval life insurance or no exam life insurance still offers you the coverage you need. You simply don’t have to have a medical exam and deal with that entire process.

If you do choose to use no exam life insurance, you have a couple of options. We’ll go into detail about each of them to make your decision easier.

Your two no exam life insurance options are the simplified issue and guaranteed issue. To give you some background, simplified issue life insurance is great for healthy individuals. If you can’t get coverage from standard life insurance, you may use guaranteed issue life insurance in order to be approved.

Let’s take a look at both simplified issue life insurance and guaranteed issue life insurance. Comparing the two will help you to find the one that’s best for you!

Simplified Issue Life Insurance

As mentioned before, you can usually get coverage with simplified issue life insurance as long as you’re healthy. You must be healthy in order to get it so this option won’t work for everyone.

Instead of going through the entire medical exam process, you simply have to answer questions about your health on a questionnaire. This questionnaire includes general questions about serious illnesses, whether you smoke, and more. It’s pretty straightforward.

One thing to note about this questionnaire is that some of the questions will disqualify you if you answer yes. This is because some of the health conditions and habits listed are serious and costly. If you are not denied coverage, you may end up paying higher premiums as a result of your illness.

This questionnaire is a part of the application process. Most of these applications can be filled out online. Life insurance agents are switching over to online options to save you time. The e-application is easier than a paper application and you can apply anywhere at your convenience!

Remember that you must be healthy. This is what simplifies the insurance application process with simplified issue life insurance. This is the main requirement with this type of life insurance. Beyond that, you should be good to go with the rest of your basic information.

If you do choose to use simplified issue life insurance, you may be paying a pretty high premium. This depends on the company that you choose. In general, this is more expensive because you chose not to have a medical exam done.

You will also have capped coverage. This means that there will be a specific limit on your coverage. This usually isn’t a huge problem, but it is good to be aware of. If you reach that limit, you may be paying for those previously covered services out of pocket. To avoid issues with this, you should be aware of the coverage cap and all of its terms.

You should be okay with capped coverage, but you do need to find out how it works for your specific policy. Your life insurance agent will be able to help you make an informed decision and avoid any potential problems with capped coverage.

For some people, the capped coverage limit may be too low. If this is the case, you will need to explore other options. This can vary by company, but you might end up having to choose an entirely different type of life insurance.

It’s not too tricky to get approved for simplified issue life insurance. This is due to the simple process. Most applicants realize that it’s geared toward healthy individuals. Because of this, anyone with a serious illness usually applies to other types of life insurance.

To give you an idea of how many people are able to qualify for simplified issue life insurance, Prudential approves about 70% of their applicants. You have a pretty good chance of qualifying. In addition, most applicants for simplified issue life insurance are covered within a few days or just a couple of weeks. This is much quicker than the 4 to 8-week underwriting process!

It’s not very complicated to find companies that offer simplified issue life insurance. We wanted to make the search easier on you though. We have compiled a list of some of the companies that offer it. Keep in mind that each company may have different guidelines in each state. Additionally, you may not be able to get simplified issue life insurance in some states.

Many life insurance companies offer simplified issue life insurance. Just ask questions and do some research. Use this list as a guide, but make sure you ask questions when it’s actually time to apply for simplified issue life insurance. All of the specifics can be explained by a life insurance agent.

Here are just some of the companies that offer simplified issue life insurance:

• Amica Mutual
• American Amicable
• AAA Life Insurance
• MetLife
• Prudential
• American Family Mutual Insurance
• Sagicor
• Transamerica
• Phoenix

Each company has its own unique set of requirements, you can contact us to learn more about each.

Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance

Your second option when it comes to instant approval life insurance is guaranteed issue life insurance. This type is exactly what it sounds like—guaranteed. If you apply, you are guaranteed to be covered by one of the company’s policies. This might sound all positive, but there are definitely some drawbacks.

Guaranteed issue life insurance essentially means that you are guaranteed to be covered, even if you have a serious illness or health complications. This is a good choice for anyone with a serious health issue or anyone who is unable to be approved by a standard life insurance company.

Like simplified issue life insurance, you won’t have to get a medical exam in order to be approved for guaranteed issue life insurance. In addition, you won’t be asked to fill out a health questionnaire as you would be with simplified issue life insurance.

Because the guaranteed issue life insurance company has no information about your health, they have to charge you high premiums.

For most folks, this is the last resort. If you’ve tried working with other life insurance companies and policies with no luck, this is the option for you. We would advise trying everything else before using guaranteed issue life insurance due to these high prices.

Of course, some things simply cannot be avoided. Plenty of people end up having to go with guaranteed issue life insurance when nothing else seems to work out. Just be aware that this is the most expensive type of life insurance out there. If you can avoid it, do that!

Because guaranteed issue life insurance does not require a medical exam or a medical questionnaire, the company has to be cautious. They have to charge you more in case you are extremely unhealthy. Having low and affordable prices would not be an effective business plan for these companies.

One downside with guaranteed issue life insurance is that you will have to go through a waiting period. This is the period of time between submitting your application and being approved. It doesn’t take an extremely long time, but it can be longer than you were expecting.

Prior to applying for a guaranteed issue life insurance policy, you might want to ask your life insurance agent how long the waiting period is. Then you can prepare for that waiting period and know when to expect an answer about your guaranteed issue life insurance.

Another consideration to make is the capped coverage amount. Simplified issue life insurance has capped coverage as well. As mentioned before, this is simply a set limit for your coverage. It can vary by company, but it’s not too different from one company to the next

This coverage limit can be a problem for some people. It’s usually not a huge deal, but it can be in some cases. You should first make yourself aware of the coverage limit. By doing some research and talking to your life insurance agent, you should be able to determine whether this coverage cap limit will be an issue or not.

The nice thing about guaranteed issue life insurance is that the life insurance company will not require you to complete the questionnaire or the medical exam. This leaves them with no answers about your health, which results in a higher price for you. It’s pretty simple once it’s broken down.

You just need to be prepared for the waiting period and the capped coverage amounts. Plus, you will have to pay a lot more than you would pay for other life insurance policies.

If you think that guaranteed issue life insurance is the best choice for you, you should start looking for the right life insurance company and policy. Just like simplified issue life insurance, finding companies that offer this type of life insurance shouldn’t be too challenging. Still, it can be helpful to have a list of companies to start with.

Here are a handful of life insurance companies that offer guaranteed issue life insurance:

• Vantis Life
• AIG Life Insurance
• American National
• Mutual of Omaha
• Gerber
• Great Western 
• True Blue Life Insurance
• Protective
• MetLife

Conclusion

As you navigate the world of instant approval life insurance options, you might be a little bit confused or need some guidance. There are lots of life insurance agents out there, but it’s important to choose an independent life insurance agent who doesn’t have any ties to a particular company.

It’s good to start with getting a few quotes on different types of life insurance. It is also a good idea to apply to simplified issue life insurance first. If you aren’t approved, you can go ahead and get guaranteed issue life insurance.

We’re here to help! When you work with us, we will give you all the information you could want without the bias. We have the information and can provide you with the guidance that you may need. We won’t push you toward a company so that we can make more commission. We care about you as a person and want to give you the best options for your personal needs.

We are an independent life insurance agency so we won’t give you a biased opinion on life insurance companies. We simply want to help you find the best company and policy for you. In addition, we can answer any questions you might have and find you a great deal on your life insurance!

We want to make sure that you get exactly what you’re looking for and that you understand your policy’s terms. It’s important to know what’s included in your life insurance policy and what isn’t. All of the terms can be confusing at times and hard to keep straight. That’s where we come in. We don’t want you to be lost and end up with the wrong policy for your needs!

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At CFAinsure we do all the shopping for you on your behalf. That means no calling around different companies and listening to multiple sales pitches. We shop around with all of the top companies on your behalf, at no extra cost to you. Simply run a life insurance quote on our quote engine or call us at 212-573-5563 so that we can answer all of your questions.