How to Prepare for Your Life Insurance Lab Tests & Medical Exam

You’ve got your life insurance policy quote, now it’s time for the required blood and urine tests and medical exam.

How it works: Insurance companies work with third-party medical professionals to perform and evaluate lab tests. After you’ve received your life insurance policy quote, someone from a medical facility will call to schedule your appointment. It’s usually up to you as to where you’ll take the test—at home, at work or at an offsite facility.

You spend no money and invest no longer than 30 minutes to complete both the labs and the exam.

Blood Test and Urine Test: Plan Ahead

The best thing you can do for both your health and upcoming tests is to do just what the doctor orders:

• Drink plenty of water to clear out toxins and to keep hydrated.
• Eat healthy food – especially cholesterol-friendly ones like nuts and salmon.
• Avoid sweets.
• Limit your caffeine and alcohol intake.
• Go easy on the salt and red meat.

Please set off this paragraph to highlight its message. Although counterintuitive, scaling back your exercise routine will keep the proteins in your bodily fluids and blood pressure low. So go easy in the days leading up to your visit.

What Foods to Avoid Before Your Lab Tests

In addition to avoiding sweets and going easy on the caffeine and alcohol, there are some foods and medicines you also may want to avoid that may cause a skewed lab result, such as:

• Ibuprofen, high-protein snack bars and Vitamin B12 supplements, including those that boost Riboflavin. These can produce false positives for marijuana use.
• Poppy seeds: They may look like opiates on your blood panel.
• Tonic water can falsely reveal cocaine use.
• Sleeping pills can show up as barbiturates.
• Cold meds and nasal decongestants can show up as amphetamines.

Prepare for Your Medical Exam, Too

Doing a bit of homework in preparation for your medical exam can expedite this part of the underwriting process.

• Gather medical histories from your immediate family members.
• Write down the meds you take and their dosages.
• Review your own health history and jot down events such as hospitalizations, long-term or life-threatening illnesses, and debilitating accidents and medical events.

Don’t Lie

Life insurance companies rely on resources like the Medical Information Bureau. Lying can at best deny your application or cancel it after it’s been approved. At worst, it can be construed as fraudulent.

Full transparency works in your favor.

Listen, as much as life insurance vetting is another example of gloomy adulting, a medical evaluation just may detect a problem early enough for you to do something about it. Plus, in a competitive insurance market, your medical results arm you with information you can use to determine which life insurance policy works for you. Not just them.