The Impact of Smoking on Life Insurance
It is no longer a secret that smoking causes a wide range of illnesses, including heart disease, lung cancer, tooth loss, gum disease, and other respiratory issues among non-smokers. It also contributes to wrinkles and premature aging. Additionally, smoking costs money and harms the environment.
Because of all the above-mentioned factors, smokers are more prone to different diseases, thus they have a shorter lifespan. As a result, life insurance for smokers is much more expensive than for those who do not smoke.
One of the most unpleasant side effects of smoking is that it comes with significantly more expensive life insurance rates. Due to increased risk, premiums for smokers might range from 40% to 100% higher than for non-smokers, depending on your health history.
What Will They Look At?
Insurance providers usually consider the following factors when determining how much to charge you for life insurance:
- What you smoke.
- How long you have smoked.
- Your way of life and level of fitness.
- If smoking has already had a negative impact on your health.
Important to Know
When looking for life insurance, it's crucial to keep in mind that there are several "nicotine delivery systems" besides cigarettes that can label you as a "smoker". The list includes e-cigarettes and vaping, thin hand-rolled cigarettes known as bidis, hookahs, cigars, pipes, tobacco chewing, snuff, smokeless tobacco, patches, lozenges, nicotine gum, inhalers, and nasal sprays.
Be aware that for the purposes of life insurance, prolonged exposure to secondhand smoke may also be regarded as smoking. Although your insurance company might not directly inquire about this, it might come up in your blood tests, which could have an impact on your premiums.
However, it is important to note that each life insurance company has its own criteria for determining whether or not you qualify as a "smoker," and they can differ greatly.
What if the Policyholder Stops Smoking?
If the policyholder who used to smoke while buying life insurance coverage, quitted smoking, he should ask the insurance provider to reassess the coverage after 12 months of giving up the habit. The company can decrease monthly premiums, if the medical tests revealed no nicotine in the blood of the policyholder.
For life insurance, you must have stopped using tobacco or nicotine replacement therapies for the previous 12 months to be defined as a non-smoker. This refers to e-cigarettes as well.
The term "never smoker" may also be used by life insurance companies. Adults who have never smoked or who have only smoked less than 100 cigarettes throughout their lives are considered never-smokers.
Insurance companies seldom categorize smokers with the terms like "preferred smoker" (someone who smokes, but is physically fit and healthy), "typical smoker" (someone who smokes and has minor health problems), "table-rate smoker" (someone who smokes and has got serious health problems because of smoking).
Why Does it Take 12 Months?
Your blood flow will improve one to three months after you stop smoking, but your lungs won't have significantly recovered until nine months later. Your lungs start to heal after 12 months, thus the risk of developing smoking-related diseases, such as heart disease, or stroke, begins to decrease. After five years, the body will have healed itself sufficiently for the arteries and blood vessels to begin to widen again, meaning blood is less likely to clot. After ten years, a person's risk of developing lung cancer and dying from it is roughly cut in half compared to someone who continues to smoke.
Term Life Rates vs. Permanent Policies for Smokers
It's interesting that these two types of policies charge smokers with different premium levels. Smokers typically choose term life insurance since it has more flexible payment options and cheaper premiums. The thing is that the risk assessment procedures are different for these two policies, thus making the costs different from each other. However, it is also important to note that while term life may be more affordable, it offers temporary coverage, whereas permanent life insurance provides lifelong protection and potential cash value growth.
The Waiting Period
You might be surprised to learn that some insurance companies provide smokers the option of being labeled as non-smokers. How? If you need the motivation to quit smoking sooner rather than later, many insurance companies include a waiting period into their policies before you can be classified as a non-smoker. This waiting period usually lasts at least 12 months. Once you cross that waiting period, your rates could start to decline and, a few years later, may equal those of a "never-smoker".
If You Are Not Ready to Stop Smoking
If you still are not ready to quit smoking for the purposes of purchasing life insurance, you should make a wise decision and choose the option that is most affordable among all the available alternatives. Also note that if you are a smoker but generally in quite good health, there may be a range of relatively affordable life insurance options for you. If you do have major smoking-related illnesses, you may still have options, but you'll probably have to pay higher premiums or have a lower death benefit.
The Best Time for Smokers to Purchase a Policy
As we all know life insurance premiums depend on different factors, including the age, gender, health, and the way of life of the policyholder. Thus, if you are smoking and want to purchase a life insurance policy, you had better do that as soon as possible, as you are more inclined to health problems than those who do not smoke. When you get the coverage sooner rather than later, you ensure that your family will be protected financially when they need it most.
Wrap-up
Summing up the whole article we see that besides causing serious health issues, smoking makes it more difficult to find a cheap life insurance rate. But if you have successfully stopped smoking for a year or longer, think about contacting insurance companies to learn about your choices for lower rates as a non-smoker.