Can you buy a term plan without medicals? Should you?

Yes, you can. Medical tests are not mandatory when buying a term plan. 

Depending on your age and the life cover you require, many life insurance companies may offer you a term plan without taking any medical examination. 

But, remember, the life cover offered in such plans is quite low, compared to plans where you have to take medicals. It is always better to go for medical tests when buying term insurance. 

Buying a term insurance without medical tests is not recommended at all. Here's why:

• Term plans without medical tests usually offer lower life covers which may be insufficient for your family

• They may result in a term insurance claim rejection

See, medical tests help your insurer get a clear understanding of your health status and enable them to decide the best premium for your policy. 

But if you do not take these tests at the time of application and later, your insurer finds out a pre-existing health condition was the main reason for your death, your term insurance claim may get rejected. 

Buying term insurance with medical tests helps you ensure a strong, almost watertight, case for your nominee in case of a claim. 

Here's another reason to opt for a term plan with medicals - the insurer pays for it. Now tell us, why won't you want to get a free health assessment?

Taking medical tests when buying term insurance will help you provide the maximum financial security to your family even in your absence. 

Medical tests help the insurer understand your health conditions better and assess the potential risk associated with offering you a term plan. 
 

A term plan without medicals will always offer less life cover than normal term plans with medicals. This is because, in the absence of medical tests, the insurer is not aware of any underlying medical conditions that you may suffer from and hence does not know if you are a high-risk insurance customer or not.

Thus, to compensate for this unknown risk, the insurer offers you a low life cover, which may turn out to be inadequate for your family's financial needs. 

The complete list of medical tests will depend on your insurer and your specific case.

Some of the standard medical tests you need to take during your term plan application are:

• Urine test

• Blood tests including CBC

• Lipid profile

• Blood pressure

• Liver and kidney function

• Fasting blood sugar

• ECG/TMT/2D Echocardiography

• Ultrasonography

• Chest X-RAY

• HIV

• Treadmill test

Remember, this is not limited to this list. You may have to take more tests if your insurer feels the need.

Find out in detail about the medical test for term insurance you have to take when buying a term insurance plan.

Yes, it can. 
 

Your medical tests help your insurer assess your health condition. You will also have to disclose your pre-existing medical conditions (if any), lifestyle habits, family health history and so on. And this includes information about your mental health too. 

This helps the insurer determine how much risk is involved in giving you a term insurance plan by a process called medical underwriting. 
 

If you are a high-risk customer i.e. you have a higher chance of passing away because of your health compared to someone without the same health conditions, the insurer may reject your term plan application on medical grounds.

Find out all the factors that can cause your term plan application to get rejected. 

Yes. If the insurer finds too many concerns in your medical reports they can put your application on hold. 

But don’t worry. You can still turn things around. 

• Understand from your insurer why your application has been postponed

• Consult a doctor

• Work towards improving your health condition

• Re-apply after the waiting period recommended by your insurer

Know more about what to do if your insurer postpones your term plan application on medical grounds. 

Yes, they can. 

If your insurer finds any health concerns such as high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes in your medical test results, they can increase your term insurance premium. 

It’s called a rate-up which is like a revised offer from the insurer and it happens because now there is potentially a lot of risk involved in offering you a term plan. 

Find out in detail how your term insurance premium can increase because of a lot of factors. 

Yes, they are. Either your insurer will pay for it or they will reimburse the cost. 

And this holds true, even if your term plan application gets rejected later on. But it may vary from insurer to insurer so check with them to confirm. 

Find out more about whether medical tests during term plan application are free or not. 

You need not take the medical tests again if you have taken them within 6 months to 1 year before applying for your term policy.* You can just submit the results of those tests to your insurer. 

(*Varies from insurer to insurer )

However, you may be told by your insurer to repeat the medical tests by your insurer if: 

• There is any red flag in any test results 

• You have not taken some tests that they require 

• They are not satisfied with some results and want to reassess 

• Your health or lifestyle has changed over time

Unless it’s too much of a hassle, you should take the medical tests again so that you can ensure fewer hassles for your nominee during the claim process. 

No, you do not. You are only required to take it once during your term plan application process.  But, if you want to add riders after buying your term plan, you may have to take medical tests depending on your health, the plan you have, the riders you are taking and of course, your insurer. 

For example, if you want to add a critical illness rider after buying your term policy, you may have to take medical tests to be eligible for that rider because your health conditions may have deteriorated over time or you may have developed certain unhealthy habits. Certain insurers may not offer a critical illness rider if you already suffer from a critical illness. 

It’s best to check this information and confirm with your insurer. 

If your term plan requires you to take medical tests, you will have to take medical tests irrespective of whether your family has a history of health problems or not. 

Your family health history may help the insurer understand if you are at a higher risk (than an average person) of developing certain medical conditions. Your insurer will mostly be  interested in your individual medical profile. 

They can request additional medical tests if 

• Your family history has many cases of diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, or cancer or any other mental disorder

• These diagnoses happened before your family members turned 60
   

If there’s a history of of chronic illnesses, they may want to know about:
 

• Your own health profile

• Age of death of certain family members

• Any pattern of untimely deaths
   

If your family suffers from health problems but your medical tests show that you are a healthy individual, your insurer may not increase your premium. 

This requirement may vary from insurer to insurer so it’s best to ask them about their medical test requirements pertaining to your application.  

Find out in detail how your family health history can affect your term insurance application. 

This will depend on a lot of factors such as your base plan and the riders you want to buy. Certain riders can be bought without any medical tests but others may require medical tests, especially if you are buying them, some time after having bought your term plan. 

For example: Say you have bought a term plan and a year later, you want to buy a critical illness rider. But by then you may have developed some health problems or maybe an immediate family member has been diagnosed with a critical illness. In such cases, your insurer may ask you to take medical tests for buying the rider. 

But if you want to buy a non-medical related rider like the accidental death benefit rider, then you may be able to add the rider without medical tests. 

It is best to check with your insurer once about the requirements for medicals for the different riders they offer. 

When you buy a term plan, your life cover should not depend on your spouse’s term plan life cover. It should only be a replacement of your income that your family won’t have access to in your absence. 

Term plans without medical tests typically offer lower cover than the ones with medical tests. 

But you should get adequate cover, even if your spouse has a term policy. That’s because even if both of you are earning, your unexpected demise will reduce your household income resulting in some financial crisis for your family. 

Even if you are a homemaker, the family will need extra means for hiring professional help for caregiving of the children and the elderly. Result: Additional financial burden. 

In either of the cases, your term plan life cover will come in handy to your family in times of financial need. 

Our advice: don’t settle for low covers by going for a term plan without medical tests. 

Determine how much life cover you’d require with the help of the KlarifyLife Term Guide. 

No, your claim will not be rejected due to a health problem diagnosed after you had bought the term plan. 

No, you definitely should not. 

Term plans without medical tests typically offer lower life covers than the ones with medical tests. A low life cover may not be sufficient to protect your family financially in your absence. So don’t settle for a low life cover just because you have to pay a high premium; your family’s financial security and your peace of mind should be your top priority when taking a term plan. 
 

Remember, if one insurer has increased your premium, chances are others will do so too. 

Our advice: Get the application approved by paying a higher premium.