Tips on handling medical record requests

When an insurance company requests a copy of an applicant’s medical records as part of the underwriting process, most people are not able to provide them and this works in favor of the insurance company. The insurance company then avoids covering the risk without the need to evaluate or decline an application based on the legal underwriting provisions. Of course, we do not know if this is true in your situation. While it certainly makes sense for all of us to have a copy of our own medical records at home, we know that most people do not bother to keep these documents at home.

In the past insurance companies would simply request your permission to contact medical providers to request a copy of your medical records. Now, due to health onerous care privacy laws, few insurance companies are willing to attempt to contact medical providers directly to request patient records. The responsibility to collect medical records now rests with the patient. If you have access to your medical records, the decision to release the records to the insurance underwriter is solely yours.

If medical records are not available or you choose not to provide the records to the underwriter, we can suggest three alternate actions:

1. Withdrawal the current insurance application to avoid any risk of a “decline” that could have adverse effects in the future.

2. Switch to an insurance like “Simple whole life” that does not require medical records.

3. If you obtain a copy of medical records in the future, have you own personal insurance adviser review the records for you before submitting them to an insurance company. (OnlineAdviser offers this service free of charge upon request). It is important to preserve your future insurability under the most favorable terms but remember that insurers do not look at medical records in the same way as a physician. It can be a mistake to blindly release medical records to an insurance company without an understanding of the content of those records.