Will Your Last Physical Work For A Life Insurance Exam?

No! The question comes up all the time. Someone who has just completed an annual physical. A private pilot who recently did their regular flight exam. A CEO who gets semi-annual executive physicals at the Mayo Clinic.

It really doesn’t matter what the scenario is, insurance companies still want their own exam, done their own way, by their own service. The only good news in it for you is that the insurance companies don’t charge for the exam and labs even if you ultimately don’t accept the policy. I guess the other good news would be for those who don’t get regular checkups, here’s one for free!

So, why so picky? I’ve talked before about how life insurance underwriters and physicians really aren’t evaluating you in the same way. They were in fact trained, if not born on different planets. A different focus requires different testing.

A physician might care whether you smoke or not from a medical point of view, but they would never test for nicotine on your labs. Your word would be good enough. The truth with insurance is that plenty of people try to squeak half truths and little lies by and a “no” answer to tobacco use is confirmed by a nicotine test, a “no” answer to drug use might be confirmed by a test for drugs and if your liver functions are high, it’s not uncommon for a life insurance company to run an extra test called a CDT, an alcohol marker.

Life insurance companies commonly use one liver function test called a GGTP. Most doctors don’t use the test because it doesn’t provide a specific enough direction. On it’s face, the GGTP only measures whether there is irritation of the liver. Unspecified irritation of the liver can be explained as easily as using too much Ibuprofen and can also be as easy as too much Jack Daniels. An elevated GGTP will almost always trigger a follow up CDT.

Bottom line. Just a few examples that point out the difference in focus that keeps insurance companies from using your latest physical. They aren’t looking for convenience as much as they are looking for a complete underwriting picture.