Life insurance companies have mathematical geniuses called actuaries working for them whose job it is to make sure that the life insurance companies do not lose by insuring all the risk that’s out there. One of the things that they do to ensure they don’t lose is put clients into health categories to determine what rate they qualify for. Outside of looking into your medical history, own of the ways life insurance companies get a good look at your overall health is the medical exam. This medical exam consists of a height/weight measurement, health questions, blood pressure reading, blood sample, and yes, a urine sample. So your urine will be tested during the life insurance medical exam. Let’s find out what they test for and if there are ways to bypass it.
In Summary,
- Life insurance companies test your urine for health issue, supplement use, drug use and prescriptions among other reasons.
- There is a way to skip the urine test by buying a no exam policy.
- These policies are faster to get but are more expensive and have caps on coverage.
- If you take the medical exam, make sure you are being healthy a couple days before to get more favorable results.
Those are the highlights of what this article is about. Now let’s break it all down.
What Do They Test For?
In short, the life insurance companies test your urine for everything. They want to get a good picture of your overall health and your urine tells a good story about a lot of what goes on in your body. Here are just a few reasons life insurance companies administer a urine test.
Look for Health Issues
Your urine can give a window into what’s going on in your body. It is a good sign of kidney trouble if there is too much protein in your urine. Liver problems can also be seen in a urine sample as well as a good picture of your overall digestive health. If they aren’t sure about what they see, they will compare it to your medical records or ask you to see a physician.
Prescription Use
Every time you pop that pill for your blood pressure with a glass water, traces of it will come out in your urine. Your prescription drugs use can be seen in your urine analyses as well as your medical history. So it’s best to be upfront about it.
Supplements
Whether you’re taking a fat burner or any other supplement to help you get in better shape or be smarter, the life insurance companies will want to know. The urine can also spot steroid use so if you’ve got a body building competition you’re preparing for or are healing up from an injury, they will test for it.
Drug Use
One of the biggest questions is “do life insurance companies test for drugs?” The answer is: of course! They test for everything! They use the blood and urine test for any drug use that can include cocaine and marijuana. However, marijuana smokers be aware that you can get non-smoker rates with select carriers, so just be honest with your agent!
Those are some of the things that the life insurance companies will test for when you provide them the urine sample. If you are uncomfortable with providing a urine sample for any reasons, there are ways to avoid it.
Can I Skip the Urine Test?
There is a way to skip the urine test that is normally required with a traditional medical exam life insurance policy. So if you feel like you want to, you can. However, there are drawbacks to this.
Go No Exam
The way to skip the urine test is with a no medical exam life insurance policy. These come in the form of simplified issue life insurance policies which are for healthier people. There other type of no exam is guaranteed issue, which are people who get declined by all the life insurance companies due to bad health.
Simplified Issue
The simplified issue life insurance policies allow you to skip the medical exam and the urine test that comes with it. The good thing about these policies is that they can provide coverage fast, in as little as a few minutes to a few days because you don’t have to do the exam and the underwriting is speedier. However, keep in mind your policy is still underwritten, that means your medical records will still be looked into.
The few downfalls that come with no exam policies are the extra cost and capped coverage. No exam companies can be 25% to 50% more expensive than traditional term life insurance policies. They are also capped at $250,000 to $400,000 worth of coverage life insurance coverage. If you think whatever will be found on the urine test will cost you more than the no exam plan, by all means, go simplified issue.
Guaranteed Issue
These plans are more for final expenses because they offer no more than $25,000 worth of life insurance coverage. The good thing about them is there is no exam and no questions asked. Once you apply you are approved. You will just have to wait two years before any benefits would be paid out.
Tips on Taking the Urine Test
If you decided that you want to do it, here a few things you can do to get more favorable results. The first thing you want to do is start eating healthy a few days before the exam. Stay away from fast food and food high in sodium. You also want to make sure you don’t drink alcohol a few days before the exam. If you’re not a smoker, please don’t decide to have your annual cigar a few days before the exam as this will make you seem like a smoker. The last tip is drink lots of water! This helps more than you can imagine.
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