Life insurance?

[puglogic]

I am considering a small life insurance policy, specifically so my husband can pay off our home if anything happens to me.

The questions they ask on the enrollment form are.....well....so invasive! Is it normal and customary, for example, for insurers to ask the name and phone number of my primary care physician? Can they call my doctor and ask private questions? How does that work?

Such a strange world, this insurance stuff.....

[Kestra]

Sounds reasonable from an insurance perspective. They should have some fine print that allows them to contact your doctor. And they should disclose this to you.
They need to know this information, because if you start up a life insurance policy, then die the next week, they could reasonably conclude that you had a non-disclosed pre-existing condition and deny the claim. Generally, there isn't much investigation until there is a claim. If they never have to pay out, they won't care. But if there is a chance of losing money (paying a claim), then they need to have all relevant info already on file. After your death, would hardly be the time for them to pester your DH about your medical history.

[SteveinMN]

To properly establish your expected lifespan, the insurance company needs to know your medical condition and history. This almost always requires a records release -- your permission for your medical providers to give the insurance company the information they're looking for. Yes, this is invasive. But you won't get insurance worth anything without it.

[Float On]

The last life insurance policies we bought sent a visiting tech to our home. I can't remember what all they did, if it was to make sure we didn't lie about our height/weight or maybe they took our BP and a blood draw. But they also made sure we didn't sky dive, scuba dive, or ride motorcycles on a regular basis. Kind of an 'insurance for the insurance' sort of deal. Between the 2 of us I think we've got 5 policies. 3 on DH and 2 on me. Because we spent so much time on the road traveling together when the boys were little (my parents kept the boys a lot for us) we wanted to make sure there was plenty for them if we both died in a car wreck.

[Blackdog Lin]

I just had to deal with this last fall preparatory to my retirement. Policy #1, a quite large one on me, they sent the nurse for an in-home visit for height, weight, blood pressure check, blood-drawing, and a whole bunch of questions on various forms. Policy #2, a small one on DH, they only asked 3 medical questions on the applications, which I answered honestly. Since he is the one with the health problems, I was surprised to find an insurer that would issue an affordable policy on him. I applied to 4 or 5 insurers before I found a policy that was affordable.

I understand their needing all the medical info, since they are taking the bet that I will outlive the policy they sold me.

[Lainey]

I got an insurance policy from Mutual of Omaha which is basically a 'pay off the mortgage' amount, and I did not have to have a physical, although I answered some basic health-related questions. I think I pay about $58/month on it.