Guaranteed-issue or underwritten: What are the fundamental differences?

It’s a question that comes up frequently among dental students around the country. It’s important to know the differences between these two types of underwriting for life insurance policies, so you can make an informed decision about the process for obtaining this valuable protection.

1. You fill out an insurance application to provide personal details, such as your health status. This will include information such as any health conditions, your family medical history, medications you’re taking and health-related information such as your height and weight.

2. After you submit your application, the insurance company will order a medical exam. The medical exam is standard; a nurse or paramedic will draw blood, measure your height and weight, take your blood pressure and ask some medical questions.

3. The insurance company will request your medical records from your primary care physician and review them along with the results from your medical exam. Getting your medical records from your healthcare provider can sometimes delay the approval process.

4. The insurance company may also look at other factors. They may review your driving record, occupation and hobbies.

5. Based on the review, the insurance company will make an "offer." This offer will include the amount of insurance they are willing to provide and how much it will cost for you to purchase it.

The entire underwriting process typically takes four to ten weeks depending on how much information is needed.

Riders are extra features that can be added to your policy for an additional fee to enhance your coverage for your specific needs and wants. Common riders include:

With guaranteed-issue insurance, you won’t have to go through a medical exam or answer any medical questions, and approval usually takes a fraction of the time of an underwritten policy. Keep in mind, the coverage may be subject to a pre-existing conditions limitation. This means benefits may not be payable for death resulting from a sickness or condition that existed or was treated prior to enrollment.

It’s understandable why this coverage is so appealing. After all, why go through a medical exam and answer personal medical questions if you don’t have to? Why wait ten weeks if you can receive an approval so much faster? The reason is simple: cost.

With most guaranteed-issue policies, you will generally pay more for the convenience of skipping the underwriting process. Likewise, there may be a limitation on your coverage amount (typically $50K–$100K depending on age).

So, it comes down to a choice between the speed and convenience of guaranteed-issue insurance or the higher coverage and typically lower cost of an underwritten policy.

There is a guaranteed-issue life insurance policy available to ADA student members throughout dental school*. It’s a benefit of your ADA student membership. This coverage includes $50,000 of term life insurance and $50,000 of accidental death coverage — which doubles to $100,000 on July 1 of the year you graduate. And because it’s guaranteed-issue, you won’t have any medical exams or underwriting to worry about.

The coverage will remain in effect through December 31 of the year you graduate.

In December, you’ll receive an invoice to keep the coverage in place. This specific insurance offer was designed with you in mind to be guaranteed-issued without a cost markup and offered at a standard rate, giving you an easy way to stay protected during a typically busy time as you begin your career. Simply pay the invoice to continue the coverage trusted by generations of ADA members and dental students to help protect their families.

Visit ada.protective.com/studentaccess and follow the prompts to request activation — it will just take a few minutes. Once the insurance is activated, you can apply for additional coverage as your needs change, as well as coverage for a spouse, by completing an application and going through the normal underwriting process.