Your First Life Insurance: 4 Ways to Prepare for the Health Screening
In some cases, people buying life insurance for the first time may need to take a health screening. The results could have an impact on how much their premium costs.
As part of the process for first-time purchasers, a health screening will probably be required on behalf of the insurance company. What they find during this screening will affect the cost of your premium for the duration of your policy, which could be up to 30 years for term life insurance or even longer for other policies.
The screening doesn’t have to be scary, though, especially if you know how to prepare. Keep reading to discover our top tips for preparing for your life insurance health screening!
1. Schedule Your Screening for the Morning
Some of our medical exam tips are easier than others. Perhaps the easiest and most effective one is this: request your exam in the morning if at all possible.
Why schedule it for the morning? For one thing, you might have to fast ahead of the examination, and a morning appointment means less time throughout the day you will deal with an empty stomach. For another thing, it’s good for your heart to be as rested as possible, and that’s easier to achieve early in the day rather than in the afternoon or evening when you’ve been working and walking around all day.
2. Start Living Cleaner ASAP
If you smoke, drink, or eat fatty foods (or maybe all three), then you’ll want to abstain from these things ahead of the exam. It’s important to do so, but keep in mind this plan comes with a bit of “good news, bad news.” The bad news is that you’ll still have to disclose your past habits to the doctor, and the insurance carrier will still take things like a history of smoking into account when setting your premium.
The good news is that even living cleaner in the short term (say, two weeks before the exam) can improve your health in ways that may lower your premium, including lowering your blood pressure. And who knows? Even a temporary stretch of cleaner living may help you to quit smoking or drinking, especially if you previously considered kicking these habits.
3. Drink Plenty of Water
Most people don’t drink enough water on a daily or weekly basis. But when preparing for insurance health checks, it’s important to drink at least eight glasses of water each day in the week leading up to your exam.
Why drink so much water? First, it helps to flush unwanted toxins out of your body. Second, your examination is going to require bloodwork, and when you are sufficiently hydrated, it will be easier for the examiner to draw your blood.
4. Give Yourself a Home Field Advantage
Our last primary tip for those getting coverage for the first time is nice and simple. Most insurance carriers will allow you to schedule your medical exam where it is most convenient for you. For a variety of reasons, we recommend you schedule the exam to take place in your own home.
At your house, you are likelier to feel more relaxed, which can help lower your blood pressure and generally reduce your stress levels. Additionally, it’s important to get a full night’s rest before the exam, and you’ll definitely feel more rested if you schedule a morning exam in your own home. If you’re married, your spouse can also help you get prepared for the examination.
Finally, all of the documentation you may need to present (including a government-issued ID, contact info for your doctors, and paperwork regarding medication and past hospitalizations and treatments) will already be there when you wake up, giving you one less thing to keep track of.
Protect Your Family with the Best Life Insurance Today!
Now you know our top tips for your life insurance health screening. But do you know where you can get the coverage that you and your family deserve?
InsureOne is ready to offer you the life insurance needed to protect your family even after you are gone. If you’re interested, InsureOne makes it easy to get a quote online. Of course, you can also pick up the phone and give us a quick call at 800-836-2240. Finally, feel free to come into one of our nearby offices at your earliest convenience!