The first step is to complete your term life insurance application. This is the formal contract between you and the carrier to establish coverage. Each carrier has a slightly different spin on the application but the key items are the same. We provide online downloadable application for the major carriers at our Term Life Insurance Application center. Let's look at the major sections of the term life application.

General term life application

The first part of your application is the general information. This is pretty self-explanatory but you want to make sure to be precise when dealing with such a contract.

Beneficiaries

The life insurance beneficiary section of the the term life app is critical. This where you officially state who will receive the life benefit if the coverage is triggered. It's very important to be exact (i.e. don't say spouse but specify person's name and SS#), and to keep the designation current once the policy is established. You can find more important information in our term life insurance beneficiary section about the do's and don'ts regarding beneficiaires.

The dreaded Health History section

This part makes up a great part of the term life application. Life insurance application health history sections can even be more involved than health insurance applications. This is because term life insurance carriers are concerned with a different set of underwriting risks than health insurance carriers. What makes a person sick may be very different than what causes death. In insurance parlance, it's call morbidity (sickness) versus mortality (death).

Term life insurance apps can even delve into family history as many mortality underwritten issues have a family or genetic basis. Heart disease is an example of this. It's important that you honestly and thoroughly complete the section for two reasons. First, if information is incorrect or incomplete, it can affect the viability of the coverage. Secondly, health history (along with the paramedical exam described later in the article) will affect the final offered rates. The carrier have various health classes or tiers according to your health and health history at the time of applying for coverage. Habits that impact health such as excessive drinking or smoking can also affect your final rates.

Once the term life insurance application is complete, you are officially in the underwriting process. The next big step is the paramedical exam. There is typically no cost associated with this exam. The carrier contracts with companies that schedule an appointment with you to complete a blood test and physical exam at your location. Such issues as high cholesterol, blood panel irregularities, height/weight can be detected and factored in the carrier's final rate offer and/or the ability to qualify. It's not uncommon for a person to discover a previously unknown health issue as a result of such tests.

The application and the paramedical test make up the primary parts of the term life insurance enrollment process. The time it takes to process and receive back a decision depends on the carrier and your given health situation. Either way, we as licensed term life insurance agents are here to help assist you with this process.