The medical questions for life insurance usually cover height and weight, smoking, alcohol, health history, medication and family history.

Some insurers add hobbies and overseas travel. Wondering how a question applies to your own health before you start? An FCA-authorised broker can explain when they ring; to arrange it, complete the form on this page. The form takes just your name, age band, telephone number, email address and postcode; your health history is for the conversation itself, and the call costs nothing.

Which health and lifestyle questions does an application ask?

Legal & General gives the fullest list. On its pre-existing conditions page (16 March 2026) it names eight things: how old you are, what you do for a living, whether you smoke, your height and weight, your medical history, how much you drink, where you travel or live, and your hobbies, with hazardous activities as its example. It adds: "You’ll be asked about any family illnesses when you make your life insurance application."

Aviva's medical checks guide (updated 2 July 2025) puts it this way: "When you apply, you’ll usually be asked questions about your lifestyle and health. These include how much alcohol you drink, your weight and height, and if you smoke." Family medical history and conditions you already have usually come next, and you may be asked about recent trips abroad to countries where there may be a health risk.

Vitality's guide to the application (last updated 24 November 2025, archived copy of 15 February 2026) groups the questions under past and current health, occupation and lifestyle. Its examples run from height and weight, smoking and drinking to dangerous hobbies such as skydiving, medication, past surgeries and relatives' health.

The lists differ in detail. Aviva says insurers have different application requirements, and Vitality says the questions vary because insurers use different underwriting criteria, so the wording on your own form is the one to follow. How insurers weigh individual answers has its own pages: height, weight and BMI, drinking, family medical history, smoking and hobbies such as extreme sports.

What counts as medical history, and what will you be asked about a condition?

Aviva's definition of a pre-existing condition reaches beyond a diagnosis to symptoms, medication, advice, treatment and tests for anything you had before taking out the policy.

Once you give details of a condition, Legal & General may ask for more: what it is called and when it was diagnosed, hospital stays and referrals to a specialist, how bad the symptoms get and how frequently, any knock-on effect such as days off work, and medication with the date you began it. If Zurich sends you for a medical, its guide to medical examinations (NPL850082001 07/25) says you will also be asked about consultations with GPs or consultants, past or planned, and about hospital visits or admissions.

Whether a symptom with no diagnosis belongs under a given question turns on that question's exact words, which a broker can read through with you on the call-back. Cover with a long-term condition is covered on life insurance with medical conditions.

How far back do the questions go?

On the form itself, the period is the one each question prints. Vitality's guide to medical records (last updated 8 November 2024, archived copy of 16 February 2026) gives the example of a question asking whether you had a cardiovascular illness in the last 5 years. For the medical evidence an insurer requests when you apply, the same guide says: "Your medical history can go as far back as twenty years. But when applying for cover, most life insurance medical requests will focus on the last five to ten." At a claim, it says insurers mostly keep to the period the application question covered, but may look further if they find a long-term illness or injury from before the application that was never disclosed.

Legal & General's page on how insurers get your medical information (12 August 2026) answers a different question, how far back an insurer can check your records: "An insurer can access any relevant medical information as far back as the records allow, but in practice, may be more interested in medical issues that have arisen in the last five years, requesting information on your current health situation including if a full recovery has been made and the length of time you’ve been clear of a condition."

Zurich's medical examinations guide sets a period for medication: have details of anything you take now, or took in the past couple of years, ready for the appointment. If an old condition falls just outside a question's window, how insurers tend to read it is worth raising with the broker on the free call-back.

How should you answer the medical questions?

Gather the facts before you start. Legal & General recommends keeping ready the dates of your medical history and the names and doses of medicines, a recent height and weight, your dress or trouser size, and your close relatives' health history. Then answer each question as it is worded, for the period it names.

Behind this sits a 2012 law, the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act. Its section 2 duty is reasonable care to avoid giving the insurer a misleading answer, and section 5 presumes, unless shown otherwise, that you knew a clear, specific question mattered to the insurer, so a plainly worded question is one to answer in full. What an insurer may do later turns on whether an inaccurate answer was careless, or deliberate or reckless. The page on what you must tell a life insurer sets out each outcome, and refused life insurance claims covers the claim stage.

Unsure how a question is worded or what it is after? Request the call-back and a broker will talk it over with you; going ahead afterwards is your choice.

Zurich's key features (NP720500009 02/25) place the duty on you: answer every question fully, honestly and accurately to the best of your knowledge, and do not count on Zurich getting your medical details from your doctor. Legal & General warns that if you die of a condition you left off the application, the policy could be cancelled and the claim not paid.

Realised something was wrong after you sent the form? Vitality says to contact the insurer as soon as possible, and Zurich asks to be told of anything on your application that changes before cover begins.

Will your answers lead to a GP report or a medical?

Often not: Vitality's medical records guide says insurers often ask for nothing more about your medical history than the application questions. Legal & General decides whether you need an exam from the amount of cover and your answers. Zurich usually asks for an examination when the cover sought is above its normal limits or your answers mean it needs more information, and its key features add that the application will end if you do not consent to it accessing your medical records. How an underwriter uses the evidence is on what underwriting means, and the cover levels that trigger tests are on non-medical limits.

A medical comes in different forms. Aviva describes a simple nurse screening at home or work, and a medical examination that "usually involves a few detailed questions by a doctor and a full examination, including heart, chest, blood pressure and a urine test." A request for one, it adds, is not automatically a sign the application will be turned down. Zurich's two usual forms are a nurse screening and a medical examiner's report, typically carried out by a doctor. Aviva's over-50s plan asks no health questions at all, as life insurance without a medical explains, and if an application is postponed or declined, what to do next is set out separately.

Frequently asked questions

What medical questions does Legal & General ask?

Its list runs from age, job and smoking through height, weight, drinking and medical history to travel or residency and hobbies, and family illnesses come up as well. Whether a medical exam follows depends on how much cover you apply for and on your answers.

Is the health questionnaire separate from the application form?

Not at Legal & General, whose medical information page says the lifestyle and medical questions sit within the application form. If a Zurich nurse screening follows, its guide says the nurse will ask about your lifestyle, medical history and close family's health as well.

Do I have to pay for a medical?

Aviva says it covers the cost and arranges it, Legal & General says it pays for any exam it requests, and Zurich says there is nothing to pay for an examination it asks for. Check what your own insurer says when it asks.

For a broker's view of these questions in your own circumstances, leave your contact details in the form here and wait for the free call. Related reading sits in the health and underwriting guides.

Sources

  • Legal & General, Life insurance with pre-existing medical conditions (16 March 2026), read 22 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Legal & General, Does life insurance with no medical exist? (28 May 2026), read 22 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Legal & General, How do life insurance companies obtain your medical information? (12 August 2026), read 22 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Aviva, Do you need a medical to get life insurance? (last updated 2 July 2025), read 22 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
  • Vitality, Life insurance application explained (last updated 24 November 2025), archived copy of 15 February 2026, read 22 October 2026. web.archive.org
  • Vitality, Life insurance and medical records explained (last updated 8 November 2024), archived copy of 16 February 2026, read 22 October 2026. web.archive.org
  • Zurich, Your guide to medical examinations (NPL850082001 07/25), read 22 October 2026. zurich.co.uk
  • Zurich, Key features of the Zurich Life Protection policy (NP720500009 02/25), read 22 October 2026. zurich.co.uk
  • legislation.gov.uk, Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, sections 2 and 5, read 22 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk