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Posted by Lenny Robbins on Tue, Feb 08, 2011 @ 04:46 PM

How Long Does It Take to Get A Term Life Insurance Policy?

How long does it take to get a term lif e insurancepolicy in f orce? For this blog I will assume thatyou are applying f or coverage that requires amedical exam. The quick answer is that you canhave coverage in place as quickly as 3 weeks, orit could take six months or more. However, mostcases are 1-2 months.

You and your agent are the most importantf actors in the timetable. Your agent isresponsible f or getting you the application,setting up your exam, sending that exam to thecarrier, and getting any other requirements theinsurance company wants. The more organizedyour agent is regarding f ollow up, the f asterrequirements get completed. If you want a speedy turnaround time, you have to respond to your agent’sinquiries promptly! In our of f ice, we communicate with our clients at least weekly to inf orm them of anyoutstanding requirements and/or keep them apprised of where they are in the underwrit ing process.

Your t ime f rame in returning the application to your agent is the f irst step. Well, actually, how f ast do they getthe application to you? Next is how quickly can you have your paramedic exam? Af ter that, the ball is in theinsurance company’s court. Lif e insurance underwrit ing is the next step!

Once the insurance carrier has your application and paramedic exam, your lab report will be ordered. This willgo to an underwriter f or an init ial review. If no other inf ormation is needed, your application can be approvedwith this inf ormation. Usually these are policies where the insured gets a super-pref erred or pref erred rating(the two best underwrit ing classes).

Based on your medical history and your lab results, the underwriter may want to review your doctor records. This is where things can bog down! The records get ordered and... I have seen records come in the next day,and I have seen records take 2 months or more to be released. If your records are at the VA Hospital, orKaiser Permanente or another large HMO or hospital, they may require a special authorization as well (and itmay take 1-2 weeks to f ind this out). A good agent calls the doctor ’s of f ice to see if a special authorization isrequired- sometimes we can save 2 weeks with just one call! Then your agent should f ollow up regularly withthe copy service to move this process along and, if necessary, have you call the doctor directly to assist.

So all in all, you and your agent are the most important f actors in keeping your application moving through theprocess. In general, without medical records being ordered we have policies in place usually within 4 weeks. With ordering records we average about 2 months. We try to make the process painless f or you by keeping ontop of things!

Photo credit: Julian Lim