Growing up in the mountains of East Tennessee I heard a lot of interesting expressions. One of my favorites is the boy is so dumb he had to study to take a urine test. Little did I know I was going to be a life insurance broker when I grew up and there was actually a bit of truth to the expression. When you apply for life insurance you usually have to take a paramed exam. You will not need to study, but you certainly will want to prepare for it. I will share the secrets of getting your best results. So what is a paramed exam and what about urine test?
A paramed exam is performed by an independent company contracted by life insurance companies to collect samples for underwriting. Typically a nurse will set up a visit to your convenience to perform the exam. They will ask health questions and record them. They will usually measure your height and weight, get a blood pressure reading and collect samples. Depending on age, health and amount of life insurance applied for they will collect urine and possibly blood samples just like you were having a physical with your physician. You do not need to study but you will want to prepare for this exam to get the best results possible. The better your results, the better your premiums or cost of your new life insurance policy will be.
There are a few things the examiner will tell you to do to prepare for her exam. These will include get a good night’s sleep, don’t eat or drink anything eight hours before your exam, avoid tobacco, caffeine or alcohol one hour prior and drink a small glass of water one hour before her arrival so you can give a urine sample. They will also ask you to have your medical history handy including your doctor and hospital information and dates of treatment.
Here are some things the examiner usually will not tell you that you need to do in your preparation. In addition to their list above here are a few other things to help if your samples are on the edge.
Definitely be well rested and fast for at least 8 hours prior
Don’t exercise 12 hours prior to exam–rest
Avoid alcohol, salt, caffeine, or heavy amounts of carbohydrates and sugar 24 hours prior to exam
Try to lower your stress level by meditating, praying, relaxing, reading 24 hours prior to exam
If you occasionally smoke cigars, hookah or e-cigs avoid them for 14 days prior to exam for possible non tobacco rate.
Certainly nothing is fool proof and if you have bad health not much will change your samples. However, I have seen many cases where doing these things prior to an exam can get one rate class better and can save a client thousands of dollars over many years of paying life insurance premiums. Good luck with your next exam.
“Eat healthily, sleep well, breathe deeply, move harmoniously.” ― Jean-Pierre Barral
Image by Master isolated images at www.freedigitalphotos.net
Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger and team leader with over 27 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.
Great article. When I sold life insurance many years ago, I sent a prospect the urine specimen bottle to send into the underwriters. His wife called me with this question. Frank wants to know about the little pill in the specimen bottle. How soon before he pees in the bottle should he take it. I had to excuse myself and regain my composure before I straightened her out
Hahahaha! John, that made my day! That is so funny! I forgot about those days and very thankful we don’t have to collect specimens any more. Thank you for sharing that!
At my age? For days I study. LLTNT (laughing like theres no tomorrow).
Thanks for this interesting article.
Hi Tim! I sold Health Insurance in the USA and some Life. Recently I got myself involved with an Insurance Company in Costa Rica and will be selling Health and Life Insurance here. So the information you shared comes very handy at this point. Thanks a lot!
(By the way, I have received a couple of letters similar to DaSilva’s – I wonder…)
Hey Tim, we are right in your wheel house and we sure would like to share a couple of our programs with your agency, we should at least have a talk as we are both trying to accomplish the same thing, help people with affordable retirement.
Patsy thank you for the kind words, always glad to help. Phil, I am always available, just give me a call. I’ll help you out if I can.
I studied for an eye test, didn’t help
Once many moons ago I was on the verge of committing to a variable annuity. I was rather young for such a move but it was only a few hundred a month and looked really good on paper…. unless you were a smoker and at the time I was. You had to be tobacco free for 2 years for the investment to make sense and I can assure you there was no way to fudge it.
Thanks once again for the interesting article……by the way i quote you frequently in my training sessions….cheers.
Kamal, thank you for sharing that compliment, you made my day!
Good points most don’t think of. Especially for the occassional Cigar smoker.