How Long Does It Take to Get A Term Life Insurance Policy?

How long does it take to get a term life insurance policy in force? For this blog I will 

assume that you are applying for coverage that requires a medical exam. The quick 

answer is that you can have coverage in place as quickly as 3 weeks, or it could take 

six months or more. However, most cases are 1-2 months.

You and your agent are the most important factors in the timetable. Your agent is 

responsible for getting you the application, setting up your exam, sending that exam 

to the carrier, and getting any other requirements the insurance company wants. The 

more organized your agent is regarding follow up, the faster requirements get 

completed. If you want a speedy turnaround time, you have to respond to your 

agent’s inquiries promptly! In our office, we communicate with our clients at least 

weekly to inform them of any outstanding requirements and/or keep them apprised 

of where they are in the underwriting process.

Your time frame in returning the application to 

your agent is the first step. Well, actually, how 

fast do they get the application to you? Next is 

how quickly can you have your paramedic exam? 

After that, the ball is in the insurance company’s 

court.  Life insurance underwriting is the next 

step!

Once the insurance carrier has your application and paramedic exam, your lab report 

will be ordered. This will go to an underwriter for an initial review. If no other 

information is needed, your application can be approved with this information. 

Usually these are policies where the insured gets a super-preferred or preferred 

rating (the two best underwriting classes).

Based on your medical history and your lab results, the underwriter may want to 

review your doctor records. This is where things can bog down! The records get 

ordered and... I have seen records come in the next day, and I have seen records take 

2 months or more to be released. If your records are at the VA Hospital, or Kaiser 

Permanente or another large HMO or hospital, they may require a special 

authorization as well (and it may take 1-2 weeks to find this out). A good agent calls 

the doctor’s office to see if a special authorization is required- sometimes we can 

save 2 weeks with just one call! Then your agent should follow up regularly with the LifeNet Insurance Solutions

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copy service to move this process along and, if necessary, have you call the doctor 

directly to assist.

So all in all, you and your agent are the most important factors in keeping your

application moving through the process. In general, without medical records being 

ordered we have policies in place usually within 4 weeks. With ordering records we 

average about 2 months. We try to make the process painless for you by keeping on 

top of things!