Preparing for Your Life Insurance Paramedical Exam

As part of a life insurance application, the insurance company will typically ask for a routine paramedical examination. It is a standard step, brief, and arranged for your convenience — here is exactly what to expect before anyone knocks on your door.

What the Examination Involves

An examiner will typically record your height, weight, blood pressure, and pulse, then collect blood and urine samples. Depending on the insurance company’s underwriting requirements for your age and the amount of coverage, an EKG may also be requested; it takes less than 10 minutes and simply records your heart’s electrical activity. A short medical-history interview may be completed either by telephone beforehand or in person at the time of the exam.

You choose the time and the place. The examination can be completed at your home, at your workplace, or at a nearby ExamOne or Quest Diagnostics location — whichever suits your schedule best.

How Long It Takes

If blood is required, it is drawn by a medically trained professional using a single-use, sterile, disposable needle.

Before Your Appointment

None of this is a test you can pass or fail. These few steps keep ordinary, temporary things — a salty dinner, a hard workout, a second cup of coffee — from clouding an otherwise accurate reading.

• 24 Hours BeforeGo easy on salt and high-cholesterol foods.
• 12 Hours BeforeNo alcohol, and no strenuous exercise.
• 1 Hour BeforeNo caffeine and no nicotine — and drink a glass of water.
• The Night BeforeGet a good night’s sleep.
• As AlwaysKeep taking every medication exactly as your physician prescribes. Nothing on this list asks you to change your treatment.

What to Have Ready

Have these within reach:

• Medications. The names and dosages of all the medications you currently take.
• Physicians. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers for the doctors and clinics you have seen over the past five years.
• Medical history. Any significant condition or diagnosis, when it was diagnosed, how it was treated, the result, and who treated you.
• Photo identification. A current driver’s license or other photo ID.
• Application paperwork. Whatever you have received, in case the examiner asks for it.
• One heads-up. If you have ever had trouble giving a blood sample, say so at the start. The examiner would far rather know first than find out midway.

After the Examination

Any specimens collected are sent to the laboratory, and the results are forwarded directly to the insurance company for its evaluation. The examiner does not receive or review them. If the insurance company needs anything further, you will be contacted — and if you have a question about your application at any point, please come to me rather than to the examiner.

Your Appointment Details

When the examiner calls to schedule, write down the appointment date, the time, the location, the examiner’s name and phone number, and the number to call if you must reschedule. If the time no longer works, call that same number — and let me know.

• Appointment date
• Time
• Location
• Examiner name
• Examiner phone
• Number to call to reschedule