How much truth should be told to a life insurance nurse?

Question

We just had a nurse come to our house to grill us on our health history, and take vitals and blood and so on.

I was left wondering how much truth should we tell her? Do they have any way to verify what was said? My doctor can't reveal my information to her or her company... Does telling too much truth hurt us in terms of jacking up our rates?

I'm not asking how to commit insurance fraud. I just felt on the spot and nervous, and suddenly feeling afraid that if I missed something that they'd catch me, and jack up the rates or sue me or whatever. I found myself trying to wrack my brain, and I'm not sure how much it was necessary.

Answer 1

I would always recommend people answer every question as honestly as possible but do not give them extra information.  Just because you have a 10 Snicker bar-a-day habit that will probably affect your health in the long run doesn't mean you need to tell them that.  They check your weight and cholesterol so if they wanted more details about your specific eating habits they should have asked you about it.  They usually try to ask very structured and factual questions so there is not room for gray area type answers.  

If they feel that you lied about something that THEY feel is significant then they can refuse to pay the benefits when you die.  They will have access to all of your medical records.  When you signed the application you agreed to give them that right.  

Just be honest, but don't feel obligated to elaborate unless they specifically ask you to.

Answer 2

If you don't tell the truth and they find out about it, they could a) reject your application and refuse insurance, or b) deny a death claim in the future based on information they have recovered. Honesty is ALWAYS the best policy.

Answer 3

I tell my clients to answer the questions honestly, just don't volunteer extra information.  You are obligated to answer honestly, but that doesn't mean you need to act like they are your new best friend and need to know all of your aches and pains.  That being said the insurance company doesn't expect you to remember every sore throat you had...they do expect you to remember that you had a hear attack.

Answer 4

Yes, your doctor CAN reveal your info to her! It says so, on the small print of the application you signed!  

You tell her the truth.  And the whole truth, because it WILL BE VERIFIED.

Answer 5

You probably already signed disclosure forms allowing your medical records to be disclosed for the purpose of insurance underwriting.

Answer 6

The insurance company will pull information from the Medical Information Bureau.  If you dont fully disclose all things it does give a company the reason not give you there best rates as well as possible declining you for lying on your application.  You can be sued but full disclosure will generally get the policy issued quicker.  If there is something that comes up and you have not disclosed it, the company may order medical records from your doctor and now they really have the opportunity to underwrite and hold more against you.  I think honesty is the best policy.  Good Luck

Answer 7

They are wanting to know medical history to accurately rate your policy.  That would not invalidate the policy.  If you lied about your medical history then that could be an issue.  Any death within two years of the policy is typically looked at very closely.  If there is something in your medical history that you did not disclose and they can show that having that knowledge they would not have issued the policy, then  your setting your loved ones up for a legal battle that might not go in their favor.   On some insurance policies, any fraudulant information can, could and likely would lead to full denail of policy benefits.....good luck and I will pray for your loved ones....

Answer 8

Life insurance companies also request information, with your signed approval, from the MIB (Medical Information Bureau), as well as from any physician, medical clinic, or hospital that you may have revealed on the application. The MIB receives medical information from insurance companies when a person applies for insurance. So, if that person applies to another company, the info is retrieved from the MIB to help them underwrite the case.

Always tell the truth as you know and remember it. The answers to the medical questions are not necessarily "facts". The are called "representations", because you may not remember a specific date of treatment, hospitalization, or checkup. Just answer the questions to your best ability.

If you inadvertently forget, and fail to give information about a certain desease or disorder which you may have had, and the insurance company does not catch it, and if death happens in the first two policy years, the company will request info again, and investigate the cause of death. If the company determines that the pertinent info had been left off, they will determine if they would have issued the policy in the first place. If it is decided that the policy would have been issued as applied for, they will pay the claim.

If the company doctors and underwriters determine that they would not have issued the policy, all premiums paid would be reimbursed to the named beneficiary.

If the company underwriters and doctors decide that they would have issued the policy, but it would have been rated up (premium increased for the risk), they would pay the claim for a lesser amount that the premium paid would have purchased.  

It is only considered fraud if it was determined that pertinent information was intentionally left off. Or if the policy was purchased to commit a crime.

Answer 9

Couple things.  First, yes they can check your medical records.  At first they ask you to answer the questions and get your vitals.  But depending on if they want further information they can and will write to your doctors for records as well.

You want to be honest, but if they ask you about "the last ten years" don't tell them about something that happened more than 10 years ago.  Sounds simple, but people do it.  My favorite too is when (and luckily this was just on the application so I made him change it) a client who was asked whether he smoked.  Instead of just checking "yes" and being done with it he added "I'm a CHRONIC smoker."  So, be honest, but not ridiculous.

Basically they're looking for information as to whether they need to delve further.  The MIB (Medical Information Bureau) tells them nothing unless you told another insurance company  last month that you had cancer and got declined.  And, then this month are leaving that tidbit off the application.  The MIB is less than what people think it is, but again is just there to protect insurance companies from fraud.

Also, if you want to be sure you bought the right plan just navigate over to my quote engine tool on my web site.  It asks no personal information like other sites so you can check to make sure.  Most other agents and even the big online companies only have a handful of companies.  My quote engine typically shows rates 30% lower than Matrix Direct (for example) since it quotes rates from ~150 different companies.  Check it out if you'd like at http://www.InsurancePickle.com/life-insu...

Jeff