The choice of acquiring medical information in life insurance markets

Consider individuals facing an uncertain lifetime (and hence uncertain future income). Each individual must go through (identical) medical checkups. The choice of a medical expert who interprets the results, and hence provides more information about the random lifetime, must be made before the checkup. We show that, in the absence of a life insurance market, a better medical expert is preferred by all individuals. However, when a life insurance market exists, and the medical checkup is carried out before purchasing a life insurance policy, some individuals may choose the inferior medical expert even though the checkup has not yet taken place.