Drew Gurley is a writer and licensed life insurance expert with nearly 15 years of experience helping thousands of clients with their life insurance needs. When Drew isn’t working, he spends time with his family and supports breast cancer and epilepsy awareness.
Edited by Tori Addison EditorTori Addison is an editor who has worked in the digital marketing industry for over five years. Her experience includes communications and marketing work in the nonprofit, governmental and academic sectors. A journalist by trade, she started her career covering politics and news in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her work included coverage of local and state budgets, federal financial regulations and health care legislation.
Our Research Process Edited by Tori Addison EditorTori Addison is an editor who has worked in the digital marketing industry for over five years. Her experience includes communications and marketing work in the nonprofit, governmental and academic sectors. A journalist by trade, she started her career covering politics and news in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her work included coverage of local and state budgets, federal financial regulations and health care legislation.
Why Trust UsOur editorial team follows a strict methodology for reviewing life insurance companies.
34 Companies Reviewed 60,346 Quotes CollectedOur team collected more than 60,000 sample quotes from life insurance companies using unique user profiles to give readers an accurate view of pricing across competitors. We gather quotes for ages 18 to 75 years old for 62 life insurance providers.
19 Rating FactorsWe score life insurance companies based on 19 different factors to provide you with a comprehensive rating.
3,000 Policyholders SurveyedOnce you decide to buy a life insurance policy, you will first have to fill out an application. Life insurance applications help companies determine your risk potential, which determines if you qualify for coverage and at what rate. Generally, lower-risk applicants are more likely to receive lower premiums compared to those considered high-risk. While the process can be time-consuming, a life insurance application involves telling the insurance company about yourself, your finances and your family history.
We at the MarketWatch Guides team have reviewed the top life insurance companies to help you throughout the policy shopping and enrollment process. This article will cover the major components of a life insurance application, including the information you must provide, and offer some tips to help you in the application process.
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Life insurance is a contract between you, the policyholder, and your chosen insurance company. Under that contract, you will make premium payments each month in exchange for financial coverage from your insurer. If you die while the policy is in force, your named beneficiaries can collect a death benefit, sometimes called face value or face amount.
Generally, there are two types of life insurance: term life insurance and permanent life insurance.
Term life insurance lasts for a specific period of time or term. Terms typically run for 10, 20 or 30 years — but some may be as short as a few months to a year, and others can extend to 40 years or longer. Insurance companies preset premiums for the entire length of a term. Although age is only one of the factors life insurance companies consider when issuing coverage, the older you are when you buy a term policy, the more you’ll pay in premiums.
As a rule, term life insurance rates are cheaper than permanent policies because they don’t have a savings or investment component. Term policies are also less expensive because coverage is only guaranteed if the insured person dies during the term. In other words, after the term expires, so does your coverage.
Permanent life insurance supplies coverage for a policyholder’s lifetime — as long as premiums get paid. Unlike term life, permanent life insurance policies have a cash value component in which part of the collected premiums get invested in a tax-deferred account. This acts as a savings account for the policyholder, who can borrow or withdraw from the funds under certain circumstances.
There are three major types of permanent insurance: whole life insurance, universal life insurance and variable life insurance. Each policy type has a cash value component driven by different investment options such as a fixed interest rate, stocks, bonds or mutual funds.
There is information you can collect in advance to make your life insurance application process smoother and faster, including:
Generally, each insurance company has specific medical requirements for its policies. Medical records will also come into play if you have a pre-existing condition, such as heart disease or diabetes. In those cases, you may need to supply medical records or undergo a medical exam. We will talk more about the medical requirements of a life insurance application in the next section.
The medical portion of a life insurance application is one of the most important sections. It asks for detailed information about your health, health history and your family’s medical history.
Insurance underwriters consider your health history when evaluating you for coverage. Here are the primary areas of interest you may find on a life insurance application:
Since some medical conditions are genetic, life insurance companies will also want to know about your family’s health history. An application may require you to provide information about your immediate and extended family members, including any medical conditions or diseases. If your family has a history of certain conditions, you may have to provide additional information to the insurer.
When reporting current medications, you will likely need to report the following information:
If you’re unsure about the details of your medications, we recommend contacting your doctor for the most accurate information.
Most life insurance companies require the potential policyholder to take a medical exam as part of the application process.
The medical exam is one of the most important components in establishing the premium the applicant will pay. A licensed medical professional, such as a nurse, should conduct the exam in person. A medical exam usually includes:
In most cases, the insurance company pays for the medical exam as part of assessing the applicant.
If you have a pre-existing condition that could disqualify you from coverage or simply do not want to take a medical exam, you can explore no-exam life insurance. However, these options are often more expensive.
