Underwriting and Approval Process

After a health insurance carrier receives your application the underwriting department will check your application for completeness. If there is any missing information they will let us know so that we can notify you and provide them with the missing information. If our office receives the application before it goes to the insurance company, we will check the application to make sure it is complete.

The next step for the underwriting department is to make a decision whether your medical records wil be required or not. Underwriters usually request doctors records automatically if:

• You have disclosed a medical condition or a past history of operations or sickness.
• You have disclosed that you have had a doctors visit or check up recently.
• You are over age 60 or applying for a child that is within 12 months of birth.
• You smoke or drink excessively.
• You are taking prescribed medication.

If doctors records are required, usually the company orders it directly. If required, the approval process is considerably longer. The approval process will depend on how fast your doctor or hospital releases the medical records. Sometimes we will need your help in this process and we let you know how you can help us get your policy approved faster.

If the records are not required they will make a decision for approval quickly. If an application submitted to the company is complete and doctors records are not required, the approval process can take less than 2 weeks and sometimes the company approves an application in less than 24 hours.

After the health insurance carrier has received your application package and other requirements they will forward it to the underwriting team. Applications will be checked for completeness. We are notified if there is any missing information. The next step for the underwriting department is to make sure the company is authorized to do business in California and that all eligible employees been given a fair chance to be part of group. This process usually takes about 3 to 5 business days.