With traditional life insurance policies, applicants typically have to fill out a questionnaire about their health and lifestyle and take a medical exam. It's similar to an annual physical. A medical professional measures your height, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol and usually takes a blood, urine and saliva sample.

No-medical exam policies remove the exam from the application process. Depending on the type of policy you apply for, you might still need to answer questions about your health and lifestyle — but some policies skip that part, too.

These policies tend to appeal to those with serious health conditions or healthy people who want to speed up the life insurance application process.