Life insurance interview questions and experience with life insurance?

[Anonymous]

My hubs and I are in the process of applying for life insurance. So far it has been embarrassing and tedious for me because the AGENT asked me all about my health history, including my past mental health treatment. (I have been on depression meds in the past, which I wasn't really jazzed about telling my agent about).

Anyway, now that we've just filed the initial application, we now have to submit to health testing and an "interview" with the insurance company. I am typically a very private person when it comes to my health and didn't realize it would be so intense (maybe I need to go back on meds- haha). I want to move forward because my husband and children depend on me, but would like to know:

1. What kinds of questions is the insurance company going to ask me during the "interview" process about my health? Is is just for information purposes, or are they going to interrogate me? (I've never had good experiences with insurance adjusters, agents, etc. because they are always on the defensive and searching for preexisting conditions).

2. Secondly, ss it possible they will NOT want to insure me? Or do they insure everyone (because they want your money), but it just comes at a dear price if you have taken, say, Prozac in the past and they now believe you are some sort of fruitloop and more likely to die within your fixed life insurance term?

Help and advice is appreciated, as I'm having a lot of anxiety of sharing my personal medical history with a bunch of insurance folks. Please also share you experience if you'd like.

[Anonymous]

I just had an interview, it was less intrusive and shorter than the one with the agent. There were still questions on personal health history, so your anti-depressants are likely to come up again. There was also a physical. Of course, yours might be different.

[Anonymous]

I also found this difficult. For me, the interview with the insurance company person covered the same questions as the agent asked, which was annoying, but not any worse than the interview with the agent. I printed out a copy of the application the agent had filled out based on that interview and used that to answer questions, particularly names and addresses of doctors.

The worst part was that the insurance company person told us we didn't need to fast for the appointment that included a blood draw, which she scheduled for the afternoon. That sounded odd to me, so I did a quick internet check to confirm that indeed you're supposed to fast for about 12 hours for a cholesterol test, and then had to talk her into making time for us to draw blood in the morning.

We're waiting to hear whether they'll cover us. Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

Former agent here.

OP, normally a life ins co will ask about prior medication and medical history because all of that factors into the risk of insuring you and the cost of a policy. Adverse selection kwim. Someone young and healthy is easy and cheap to insure. Someone older with a lot of health problems, famly history of diseases and so on is more difficult to insure and potentially much more expensive.

Taking antidepressants, well, a lot of people have taken those; that does not automatically disqualify you from most companies. Not all insurers would turn you down simply for having used antidepressants. Some might..or they might turn you down if you were diagnosed with a mental illness. Sorry but it happens. Some companies turn people down for being obese, for having high blood pressure, for having a heart condition, etc. A risk factor adds to the cost of the policy.

I once applied for life insurance and approval was delayed until they checked into a mammogram I was asked to redo. It wasn't cancer, it was just tissue, everything was ok, still they questioned it and the price increased because of that.

One thing that's important - don't try to cover up your medical history, meds etc. Insurance companies have access to your medical past through a place known as MIB (Medical Insurance Bureau) that usually contains all general medical history, hospitalizations, meds, everything...yeah you could say big brother is tracking everything. So when applicants lie they will find out. If you are turned down by a life ins co that will also become part of the records at MIB.

[Anonymous]

10:21 again

PS if you're denied insurance you can request a copy of your medical records from MIB to find out the reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former agent here.

OP, normally a life ins co will ask about prior medication and medical history because all of that factors into the risk of insuring you and the cost of a policy. Adverse selection kwim. Someone young and healthy is easy and cheap to insure. Someone older with a lot of health problems, famly history of diseases and so on is more difficult to insure and potentially much more expensive.

Taking antidepressants, well, a lot of people have taken those; that does not automatically disqualify you from most companies. Not all insurers would turn you down simply for having used antidepressants. Some might..or they might turn you down if you were diagnosed with a mental illness. Sorry but it happens. Some companies turn people down for being obese, for having high blood pressure, for having a heart condition, etc. A risk factor adds to the cost of the policy.

I once applied for life insurance and approval was delayed until they checked into a mammogram I was asked to redo. It wasn't cancer, it was just tissue, everything was ok, still they questioned it and the price increased because of that.

One thing that's important - don't try to cover up your medical history, meds etc. Insurance companies have access to your medical past through a place known as MIB (Medical Insurance Bureau) that usually contains all general medical history, hospitalizations, meds, everything...yeah you could say big brother is tracking everything. So when applicants lie they will find out. If you are turned down by a life ins co that will also become part of the records at MIB.

I was wondering if I can ask you a question, while we are at it.

I'm a cancer survivor of 3 years. Would your former company agree to insure me at all? Does anybody at all insure cancer survivors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former agent here.

OP, normally a life ins co will ask about prior medication and medical history because all of that factors into the risk of insuring you and the cost of a policy. Adverse selection kwim. Someone young and healthy is easy and cheap to insure. Someone older with a lot of health problems, famly history of diseases and so on is more difficult to insure and potentially much more expensive.

Taking antidepressants, well, a lot of people have taken those; that does not automatically disqualify you from most companies. Not all insurers would turn you down simply for having used antidepressants. Some might..or they might turn you down if you were diagnosed with a mental illness. Sorry but it happens. Some companies turn people down for being obese, for having high blood pressure, for having a heart condition, etc. A risk factor adds to the cost of the policy.

I once applied for life insurance and approval was delayed until they checked into a mammogram I was asked to redo. It wasn't cancer, it was just tissue, everything was ok, still they questioned it and the price increased because of that.

One thing that's important - don't try to cover up your medical history, meds etc. Insurance companies have access to your medical past through a place known as MIB (Medical Insurance Bureau) that usually contains all general medical history, hospitalizations, meds, everything...yeah you could say big brother is tracking everything. So when applicants lie they will find out. If you are turned down by a life ins co that will also become part of the records at MIB.

I was wondering if I can ask you a question, while we are at it.

I'm a cancer survivor of 3 years. Would your former company agree to insure me at all? Does anybody at all insure cancer survivors?

DH is a cancer survivor too. We have some insurance from pre-illness that we still maintain. He also purchases the maximum from his employer that does not require a medical history (e.g., he can buy 3 times his salary without a history but anything above that requires one). I believe our agent said some companies would cover him after 7 years or so but it would be very expensive. We haven't looked into it yet.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, I was coached by a friend on how to handle the life insurance interview and records re: antidepressants -- he said that unless your medical history indicates otherwise, the party line should be "I experienced mild symptoms of depression, which were successfully treated and managed with medication" -- no more, no less. HTH!

[Anonymous]

If you have taken any anti depressants
you will most likely be disqualified for their prime rates.

BE VERY careful when talking about medical history because once they know they will keep it on record for future insurance in the MIB.

To view what medical history is on record request a free copy of your MIB file. http://www.mib.com/html/request_your_record.html

This is what they can see because insurance companies can't get access via HIPPA.

[Anonymous]

New poster here. What I found was that the insurance company got factual info only. So yes, they'll see that you are prescribed an antidepressent, but there might not be any need for you to go into extreme detail about the reason why you felt you needed them. The advice above about "mild depression" sounds like a good tip to me.

To the former agent -- what's your take on smoking history? I found the life insurance companies wanted yes or no answers to that one... so there was nothing to distinguish someone who "social smoked in college" from someone who was a hardcore chain smoker for 20 years. I've heard if you lie about current smoking, they can find out through blood tests. But what about a mild smoking history?

[Anonymous]

10:21 here

10:28 glad you are a survivor of 3 years, congrats. There are a lot of variables but yes there are companies that will cover survivors. Some will wait til you are cancer-free 7 years as another PP mentioned. If treatment is over and prognosis is good there are some companies that would insure a cancer survivor in a short time, a year or two or even right away. Most insurers follow guidelines from a database at the National Cancer Institute, it's not quite like MIB, it's information on millions of (nameless) patients.

And 11:15 makes a good point - the best deal (financially also) for many, is to get life insurance at work thru a group plan. If you leave the company, take over the plan on your own similar to COBRA for medical insurance. You pay the premiums but they are typically a lot lower than you'd pay on your own. You normally have only 30 days to take it over.

14:50 I think it depends on the company, where I worked the person had to sign off to verify they hadn't smoked in the last year or maybe it was 2 years. They didn't ask about past history that I recall. Companies can tell from the blood test or urine test, or mouth swab, whether someone is smoking.

[Anonymous]

My experience with trying to get life insurance was AWFUL and I gave up due to the intrusive medical questionnaire. It was so upsetting to have to answer deeply personal questions over the phone, not to mention maddening to be forced to give a specific answer when you have no way of knowing/ the answer is not one of their multiple choice items that they make you pick (exact month and year you developed depression, exact month and year it ended? huh?). They also asked for the name and address of a psychologist I had seen a decade before (I said no and that is when I gave up on the idea of life insurance). To me the industry is just one big bait-and-switch, you give them your basic stats and they quote you a nice affordable rate, then they pick and pick until they find a reason to jack up the rate. Yes, bitter.

[Anonymous]

As a mental health nurse and someone who also has experience of depression i challenged them on discriminatory and intrusive questions about mental health.

I had a bout of quite severe depression 15+ years ago and for the most part continued to work and raise a family etc.

I was asked more about my depression than I was about the aggressive cancer I have survived for 11yrs.

I was asked questions about suicidal intent and ideation

Like asking if you had been close to dying when you had a physical health problem

They apologised at the end of the interview!!!