When opportunity meets preparation, great things are bound to happen. Being prepared is one of the ways to make your life insurance application process go smoothly.
It always pays to have the information that is needed ready on hand. It will also help you know your health status in advance to ensure that you get access to the right policy. These are four questions that insurers tend to ask.
Health-related questions
During the underwriting process, you will undergo a couple of questions concerning your health. The reason why insurers ask this is to ensure that you are covered for any health ailments you might have. Your premiums could also increase due to the high risk that they are taking on, but in the long run it is to benefit you. For example, if your family is known to have a heart condition and you mention this to your insurer beforehand, they will be able to ensure that you get access to critical illness cover that will cover. You could be asked about:
Lifestyle-related questions
The healthier you are the better. Whether you partake in smoking, drinking, or adventure sports, these are all factors that can affect your life. Of course, the more risk each activity poses on your life the more likely it will be that you will be placed as a high risk. Insurers do cover people who smoke, drink and participate in adventure sports. However, the more threat that these activities pose to your life the less likely that they will be able to cover you.
Therefore, it is important to carefully read what your insurer has listed under their exclusions clause to see if you will be covered or not. Telling small white lies can seem like you are doing no harm at first, but this can come back to haunt you when it is time to place a claim. Therefore, it is vital that you tell the truth to any questions that have been asked.
Life can be unpredictable, and your health is likely to change. Most insurers are willing to cover you for life’s surprises, which is why it is important to inform your insurer of these changes as soon as you find out about them.
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Beneficiaries you want to have covered for a funeral benefit
This tends to be a question that stumps many first-time applicants who have not yet started a family for a couple of seconds. For those that do, it is easy to list their spouse and children. However, living in a diverse country like South Africa people soon realise that they would like to cover extended family members and adoptive children. Having the relevant information on hand such as their I.D numbers and age can make the process less daunting. You could also come back later to your policy to include their information if you are unable to include them during the time you apply.
It will be time to hit the scales
No one is a fan of standing on the scale, but knowing your height and weight also comes in handy. You are most likely going to be asked about your weight and height which is part of the Body Mass Index (BMI) that indicates if you are healthy or not. You can use a BMI calculator tool which can help you calculate your body mass in advance.
