How to Handle Applicant Questions About Digital Health Checks

Every insurance carrier rolling out digital health checks eventually runs into the same problem: applicants have questions, and the people answering those questions often don't have good answers prepared. An applicant FAQ for digital health checks insurance programs isn't a nice-to-have anymore. It's the difference between a completed application and an abandoned one.

LIMRA's 2025 Insurance Barometer Study found that 42% of uninsured Americans cite process complexity as a reason for not buying coverage. When digital screening replaces traditional exams, the complexity shifts from scheduling a nurse visit to explaining unfamiliar technology.

The questions applicants ask follow predictable patterns. After reviewing communication frameworks from Swiss Re's Digital Health Underwriting program and applicant experience data published by RGA's health technology research division, we've identified the concerns that come up most and how to address them without sounding like a legal disclaimer.

Why applicants ask questions in the first place

Most people applying for life insurance have never encountered a digital health check before. Their frame of reference is the traditional paramedical exam: a nurse shows up, draws blood, takes blood pressure with a cuff, and sends the results to the carrier. That process is slow and inconvenient, but it's familiar.

When you tell someone to open their phone camera and look at the screen for 30 seconds instead, they have a reasonable reaction: wait, how does that actually work? A 2024 report from Datos Insights projected that 49% of individually underwritten life insurance policies will involve no human underwriter by 2030. The technology is moving fast. Consumer understanding hasn't caught up.

The gap between what carriers know about digital screening and what applicants understand creates friction. That friction shows up as abandoned applications, support calls, and lower completion rates. Addressing it proactively is cheaper and more effective than handling it reactively.

The questions applicants actually ask

Based on carrier experience data and consumer research, applicant questions cluster into five categories. Here's what they ask and what they actually mean by it.

Question category	What they ask	What they really want to know
Privacy and data	"Who sees my health data?"	Will this information be sold or shared beyond the insurance decision?
Accuracy	"Is this as accurate as a real exam?"	Am I going to get a worse rate because the technology made a mistake?
Process	"What do I actually have to do?"	Is this going to be complicated or embarrassing?
Fairness	"What if I fail?"	Can this screen me out unfairly?
Consent	"Do I have to do this?"	What happens if I refuse the digital check?

Each category requires a different communication approach. Privacy questions need specifics about data handling. Accuracy questions need context about how the technology compares to traditional methods. Process questions need simplicity. Fairness questions need reassurance backed by regulatory context. Consent questions need honest answers about alternatives.

Addressing privacy and data concerns

Privacy is the most common concern, and for good reason. A Stanford Law School analysis published in February 2025 found that health data privacy protections in the U.S. remain fragmented, with HIPAA covering only specific entities and leaving significant gaps in how digital health information gets handled.

Applicants want to know three things about their data: who can access it, how long it's kept, and whether it gets shared beyond the underwriting decision.

The most effective responses are specific rather than general. "Your data is protected" means nothing to someone who reads about breaches every week. "Your screening data is encrypted, stored for the duration of underwriting, accessible only to the assigned underwriter, and deleted after the policy decision" gives them something concrete.

A few principles that work well in practice:

• Name the specific regulations that apply (state insurance data privacy laws, NAIC model acts, HIPAA where applicable)
• Explain the data lifecycle: collection, use, retention period, deletion
• Clarify what happens if the applicant doesn't complete the process
• Provide a specific contact for data-related questions rather than a generic support email

Swiss Re's digital health underwriting documentation emphasizes that consumer trust depends more on transparency about data practices than on the technical security measures themselves. People don't need to understand encryption. They need to understand who sees their information and why.

Handling accuracy questions

The second most common question, in various forms, is whether digital screening can be trusted. Applicants worry about two scenarios: the technology overestimates their risk and they pay higher premiums, or the technology misses something and they end up underinsured.

Both concerns are reasonable, and dismissing them damages trust. The better approach is to explain how digital health checks fit into the broader underwriting picture.

Digital health screening rarely operates alone. Most carrier implementations use it alongside electronic health records, prescription databases, MIB data, and other information sources. The screening result is one input among several. If the screening data conflicts with other sources, underwriters review the full picture before making a decision.

Underwriting approach	Data sources used	Typical decision time	Best for
Traditional paramedical	Blood work, physical exam, medical records	3-6 weeks	High face amounts, complex medical histories
Accelerated with digital screening	Digital health check, EHR, Rx database, MIB	1-5 days	Healthy applicants, moderate face amounts
Simplified issue	Application questions only	Same day	Lower face amounts, limited health questions
Guaranteed issue	No health questions	Same day	Small policies, typically group enrollment

When applicants understand that digital screening is part of a multi-source underwriting process rather than a single pass/fail test, the accuracy concern usually diminishes. The key message: the technology adds information to the underwriting process rather than replacing the entire evaluation.

Making the process feel simple

Process questions are the easiest to handle and the ones most carriers get wrong. The mistake is explaining too much. Applicants don't want to know how remote photoplethysmography works. They want to know what they need to do and how long it takes.

RGA's health technology research group has noted that the most successful digital screening implementations prioritize applicant experience design over technical explanation. The less the applicant has to think about the technology, the higher the completion rate.

Effective process communication has three elements:

• What to do: "Open the link on your phone, hold the camera steady, and look at the screen"
• How long it takes: "About 30 seconds"
• What happens next: "You'll get a confirmation, and your application continues processing"

That's it. When carriers add paragraphs of explanation about the science behind the screening, completion rates drop. People read "this uses advanced algorithms to analyze subtle color changes in your skin" and think "this sounds weird" and close the tab.

The exception is when applicants specifically ask for more detail. Have a deeper explanation available for those who want it, but don't lead with it.

Responding to fairness concerns

Fairness questions often come from applicants who've had negative experiences with automated systems elsewhere, whether that's credit scoring, hiring algorithms, or insurance pricing. They're asking whether the digital health check might disadvantage them in ways they can't see or challenge.

This is where regulatory context helps. State insurance departments regulate underwriting practices, and carriers using digital health screening must demonstrate that their processes comply with unfair discrimination laws. The NAIC's use of predictive models in insurance guidance, updated regularly, provides a framework that carriers can reference.

A few specific points that address fairness concerns:

• Digital screening doesn't make the underwriting decision on its own; a qualified underwriter reviews results
• Applicants can request a traditional exam if they prefer
• Underwriting decisions can be appealed through the carrier's standard review process
• The screening doesn't use demographic data like race or ethnicity

The most important thing to communicate about fairness is that the applicant isn't locked in. If the digital screening produces a result they question, there are other paths. That option alone resolves most fairness concerns before they escalate.

Consent and the right to decline

Some applicants just don't want to do a digital health check, and that's fine. What they need to know is what their alternatives are.

Most carriers that offer digital screening also maintain traditional underwriting tracks. An applicant who declines the digital check can usually request a conventional paramedical exam instead. The tradeoff is time: the traditional process takes longer, which means waiting longer for a policy decision.

Be direct about this tradeoff rather than trying to persuade applicants into the digital option. Pressure to use unfamiliar technology creates exactly the kind of negative experience that generates complaints and social media posts. An applicant who chooses the traditional path and gets their policy three weeks later is better than an applicant who feels coerced into a digital screening and tells ten people about it.

Where consent gets more complicated is in group enrollment scenarios. When an employer offers group life benefits with digital health screening baked into the enrollment process, individual opt-out paths need to be clearly communicated. The 2025 LIMRA workforce benefits study found that employee engagement with benefits is already a challenge for most employers. Adding consent confusion to enrollment makes it worse.

Building an internal FAQ that actually gets used

Most carriers create applicant FAQs that nobody reads. The document sits in a knowledge base, agents forget it exists, and every applicant interaction becomes improvised.

The carriers with the best digital screening adoption rates do something different. They train their agents and customer service teams on the five question categories, give them short scripted responses for each, and update the scripts based on the actual questions that come in.

Here's what that looks like operationally:

• Track every applicant question about digital screening for the first 90 days
• Categorize questions into the five buckets (privacy, accuracy, process, fairness, consent)
• Write responses that are two or three sentences, not paragraphs
• Test responses with agents before publishing them
• Review and update quarterly based on new question patterns

The goal is not a comprehensive document. It's a set of short, clear answers that the person on the phone or in the chat window can deliver without reading from a script. If the answer takes more than 15 seconds to say, it's too long.

Current research and evidence

Research into consumer attitudes toward digital health screening in insurance is still catching up to deployment. A few data points from recent work:

Dr. Laure Mousel at RGA published research in 2024 on how health technologies can innovate insurance delivery, noting that contactless screening methods are gaining acceptance among both carriers and consumers when paired with clear communication about how data is used. The research emphasized that technology adoption in insurance follows trust, not capability.

The Stanford Law School's "Digital Diagnosis" report from February 2025, authored by researchers in the school's law and technology program, documented the patchwork of U.S. health data privacy regulations and recommended more comprehensive protections for digital health information. For insurers, this research highlights that regulatory clarity around digital health data is still developing, which makes proactive transparency with applicants even more important.

Datos Insights (formerly Aite-Novarica) has tracked digital underwriting adoption across the life insurance industry, projecting that nearly half of individually underwritten policies will be processed without human underwriter involvement by 2030. Their research suggests that consumer-facing communication is the primary bottleneck, not the technology itself.

What this looks like going forward

Digital health screening adoption in insurance will keep growing. The economics are too favorable for carriers to ignore: faster decisions, lower costs, better applicant experience when done right. The carriers who get applicant communication wrong will see the same technology produce worse outcomes than those who invest in clear, honest answers to predictable questions.

The pattern from other industries is instructive. When banks introduced mobile check deposit, early adoption was slow because people didn't trust it. Once banks got the communication right, adoption accelerated. Insurance is following the same curve with digital health screening, just a few years behind.

Frequently asked questions

What should agents say when an applicant refuses a digital health check?

Agents should acknowledge the preference without pushing back. Explain that a traditional paramedical exam is available as an alternative, mention that it takes longer to schedule and process, and let the applicant choose. The worst outcome is an applicant who feels pressured and walks away entirely.

How do carriers handle applicants with limited smartphone access?

Most carriers maintain multiple screening pathways. Applicants without smartphones or reliable internet can typically use a traditional exam or, in some cases, complete screening at a carrier-designated location. The key is having these alternatives documented and accessible before the applicant runs into a dead end.

Should carriers explain the technology behind digital health checks?

Only when asked. Lead with the process (what to do, how long it takes, what happens next) rather than the science. Applicants who want technical details will ask for them. For the majority, a simple explanation of the steps is more effective than a description of remote photoplethysmography.

How often should applicant FAQ materials be updated?

Review quarterly at minimum, and after any significant change to the screening process. Track incoming questions to identify new concerns that existing materials don't address. The first 90 days after launching digital screening produce the most useful data about what applicants actually want to know.

Companies like Circadify are building the contactless screening technology that powers these digital health assessments. As the technology matures, the applicant communication frameworks around it need to mature at the same pace.