Signed up for a policy a month ago and I still have no idea if I’m covered or not

About a month ago, in late September, I reached out to a Prudential agent for a $200,000 policy. He asked me the usual questions, including about my medications. I told him I was taking Truvada as PrEP to prevent HIV. He looked it up and then repeatedly asked me if I was HIV-positive or had been diagnosed with AIDS, to which I said no each time. I made it clear I’m negative.

He submitted my application, and they took the initial $28 payment from my account. A week later, they emailed me to ask for permission to access my medical records, and I granted it. They also scheduled a nurse visit for labs. Last Thursday, the nurse came to my house, took blood and urine samples, and said my blood pressure was excellent.

Today, I received a letter in the mail with a refund check for my $28 payment. I called Prudential to check on my policy status, but the representative told me I needed to contact my agent for more details. My first thought was that maybe I had HIV and they were denying my coverage, so I took a home HIV test, which came back negative.

Since it’s after business hours, I can’t reach my agent until tomorrow. My question is: Do you think my coverage was denied, or is something else going on?

For context, I’m a 38-year-old male, 6’6", 245 lbs, non-smoker. Another factor is that my labs were done on Thursday, Monday was a holiday (Columbus Day), and I received the refund check today (Tuesday), which makes me think the refund was already being processed before my lab results came in.

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It’s possible they refunded your “temporary insurance agreement” payment, and you’re still in the underwriting process. Since there’s no active policy yet, the person you spoke to wouldn’t have access to your information, which is why they directed you to your agent.

Stay calm! The refund could be for several reasons: maybe a part of the application wasn’t filled out or signed correctly (which would be on the agent, not you), or your medication may prevent temporary coverage.

You haven’t been declined yet—only a letter of declination confirms that.

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I’ll call my agent tomorrow and see what he says. I still don’t know how they could do my labs, review them, and send me a refund check through snail mail in 5 days over a holiday weekend.

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Your labs were only drawn, likely not tested as yet. It takes about 5 to 7 days to be tested.

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Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait and talk to the agent to get clarity on what’s going on. Three weeks is a pretty short time for an application to just time out and return your payment. It might be a decline, but it could also be an error.

By the way, what does the refund letter say?

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The letter with the refund was a blank sheet of paper. There was no reason.

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That’s really strange. It usually takes about a week for the company to get your lab results, so it’s unlikely they found anything there. You should be able to check the results online. It was probably something in your medical records instead.

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There was a link for me to check my results, but when I tried, I got a message saying Prudential doesn’t have the system set up for me to view them. The only thing in my medical history is a past syphilis infection.

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What state are you in? I ask because some states have protections against adverse action because of PReP.

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South Carolina

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You can get your lab results directly from CRL or ExamOne.

Here are the links:

I’m not sure which company handled your labs, but those are the two main insurance labs in the U.S.

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I can’t view my results. I get this message:

Please Contact Your Insurance Company

PRUDENTIAL does not participate in ExamOne’s laboratory reporting service for applicants. PRUDENTIAL may offer other options to you for the delivery of your laboratory results. Please contact your insurance agent or PRUDENTIAL for your results.

Return to the registration page

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Pru does accept HIV-positive clients under certain conditions, so it’s not an automatic decline. If you get declined, Pru will send you a letter.

If you submitted your application with a check, the refund could be for the Limited Temporary Life Insurance Coverage, which might have expired.

Since you just did your labs last week, your policy is likely still in underwriting. Your best bet is to call your agent for an update.