No Medical Life Insurance Guide: Intro
Welcome to your no medical life insurance guide. This page will give you a good understanding of no medical life insurance, will inform you of savings opportunities, and will also provide a number of other useful tips based on our publications.
The difference between no medical life insurance and traditional, or standard life insurance, is that you do not need a medical exam in order to get this protection. In some cases, you will need to complete a short questionnaire. There are different types of no medical life insurance that come with different price tags e.g. Simplified Issue No Medical Life Insurance or Guaranteed Issue No Medical Life insurance which is sometimes called Guaranteed Life Insurance).
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No Medical Life Insurance: Expert Summary
“When looking into No Medical Life Insurance, you gonna wanna make sure that you find the best plan for your particular needs. There are, generally, two types of No Medical policies. There is Guaranteed Issue Insurance where there are no medical tests and no health questions and there is Simplified Issue Life Insurance where there are no medical tests and a series of health questions.
Now, with the Simplified Issue policies you gonna wanna make sure that you find the plan where you can answer “No” to as many questions as possible. This is gonna result in a lower premium and a better overall plan with, likely, more coverage. No Medical policies have also, the carriers in Canada, have also increased the amount of coverage you can get without doing a medical test, so it is also a nice feature for the people who wanna have more coverage but do not want the hassle of doing the medical tests.”
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What Types of No Medical Life Insurance Exist?
As the name suggests, no medical life insurance assumes no medical tests when issuing a policy, as opposed to a traditional policy where medical tests (blood test, blood pressure, etc.) are required. If there are no tests, insurers see the customer as a higher risk and usually collect higher premiums for this type of policy. At the same time, there is often a coverage limit on these policies in order to minimize insurance risk.
There are basically two types of no medical life insurance:
1. No medical simplified issue life insurance
This policy requires no medical exam but still has a number of health-related questions required for you to answer. Typically, the longer the health questionnaire, the lower the insurance premiums. This policy has lower coverage limits than a standard, medically underwritten life insurance policy, but still has enough coverage for you in most cases. Especially during the pandemic, insurance companies increased coverage limits of $1,000,000. If you were denied life insurance in the past two years, this policy might not be available for you.
2. No medical guaranteed issue life insurance:
This policy has neither a medical exam, nor a health questionnaire to answer. It is available even if you were declined for a traditional policy during the last two years. Typically, the coverage (face value) will be limited to $25,000 – $50,000 and there are also a few limitations in terms of pay-outs, if the insured dies within the first two years.
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What Does No Medical Life Insurance Cost?
Since the insurer is not able to determine your health condition, the assumption will be that you are a higher risk customer and thus, typically, no medical life insurance costs more than traditional life insurance.
To give you an idea of insurance costs, we compared various types of life insurance for a 40-year-old male, non-smoker. This policy has a coverage of $50,000.
Please note that this is just a sample insurance quote – your personal situation may be different.
The No Medical Simplified Life Insurance premiums are shown in light blue (for both cases – when you are able to answer all questions with NO and when you are not able to do so).
The No Medical Guaranteed Life Insurance premiums are shown in dark blue.
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When Should You Consider No Medical Life Insurance.
Let’s see which cases would benefit from no medical life insurance the most:
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- You have been declined for life Insurance: Approximately 5 per cent of all life insurance applications in Canada are declined annually. In this case you might want to look into no-medical life insurance as an alternative.
- You have a serious health issue(s): There are numerous health related issues that can affect your ability to get traditional life insurance (Parkinson’s disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s etc.).
- You have a dangerous lifestyle: For example, you participate in a dangerous sports such as professional alpine skiing or you use drugs.
- You have a dangerous job: For example, you are a member of a bomb squad.
- You do not want to go through medical exams: You have no time or have personal preferences to avoid doctors.
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How Can You Save on Life Insurance?
- Give up smoking: Although the penalty gap narrows as you age, non-smokers pay less than smokers – in some cases, smokers pay nearly double.
- Sometimes “no medical” can mean no money: Be careful of deferred benefits. Guaranteed issue, for example, does not pay for illness-related death during the first two years of the policy. It will pay out for accidental death only during that time. Should the insured die from illness during the first two years, the premiums are refunded to the beneficiary.
- Seniors have choices: Age usually means higher premiums, but these days there are a lot of policies on the market geared for seniors. Shop around to get the best policy and rates.
- Cancer cases are treated differently: Have cancer or cancer in remission? Some insurers consider this aspect more than others. Talk to a broker that knows which policy you are likely to qualify for, so you don’t have to risk having a denial of application on your record.
- Diabetics are insurable: Think you can’t get insurance because you have diabetes? Think again. A broker can direct you to an insurer that does not list diabetes as a risk factor, or that will consider your application if you are diligent in managing your illness.
- Annual vs. monthly payments: Annual payments save administration costs, such as filing and mailing. You may get a discount for making annual instead of monthly payments.
- Age rounding is important: The age on the application matters and insurers will round up or down. If you are going to be 65 on December 31, buy the policy in the first six months of the year where your age is still rounded down to 64. During the last six months before your birthday the insurer will round it up to 65.
- Other tips: Contacting an experienced, licensed broker (see the button below) helps you find even more ways to reduce your insurance premiums. The use of a broker is entirely free and there is never any obligation to buy.
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What Are Typical No Medical Life Insurance Limits?
In the past, the maximum limits for no medical simplified life insurance were around $250,000 – $300,000.
As a result of the pandemic, many insurance companies raised these limits to allow people to apply for insurance without a medical exam. An overview below provides a summary of maximum coverage limits for various companies (as of mid-year 2020). Please note that in some cases, companies still require full medical underwriting (meaning a longer, detailed questionnaire) but there are no medical exams.
| Companies / Customer ages | Maximum coverage limits |
| Canada Life (for ages 18-40) Manulife (for ages 18-50) Sun Life (for ages 18-40) |
Up to $2,000,000 |
| Assumption Life (for ages 0-17) BMO (for ages 18-50) Canada Life (for ages 41-50) Empire life (for ages 18-50) Equitable Life (for ages 18-50) Humania (for ages 18-45) Industrial Allaince (for ages 0-50) Ivari (for ages 17-50) Manulife (for ages 51-60) RBC (for ages 18-50) SSQ (for ages 18-50) Sun Life (for ages 18-40) Wawanesa (for ages 18-50) |
Up to $1,000,000 |
| Canada Protection Plan (for ages 18-50) | Up to $750,000 |
| Assumption Life (for ages 18-45) Canada Life (for ages 51-55) Canada Protection Plan (for ages 51-60) Foresters (for ages 18-45) Ivari (for ages 41-45) RBC (for ages 51-55) Wawanesa (for ages 51-65) |
Up to $500,000 |
| BMO (for ages 51-60) Empire Life (for ages 51-60) Equitable Life (for ages 51-55) Indistrial Allaince (for ages 51-60) RBC (for ages 56-60) |
Up to $300,000 |
| Assumption Life (for ages 46-65) Ivari (for ages 46-55) SSQ (for ages 51-60) |
Up to $250,000 |
| Canada Life (for ages 56-64) Equitable Life (for ages 56-60) RBC (for ages 61+) |
Up to $100,000 |
| Assumption Life (for ages 66-69) Canada Life (for ages 65+) |
Up to $50,000 |
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