Smokers Will Find It Costly To Insure Their Life

By Author: Marcus Stalder
Total Articles: 491
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If you're thinking about insuring your life and don't even consider giving up smoking then prepare to pay up because insurance companies don't like smokers. To be more precise, it's not a matter of "liking" someone because of their habits. Smokers are considered to be a high risk group of policyholders and there's a hole set of reasons for that, which we usually call smoking-related health conditions. Lung, throat and mouth cancer are probably the most common health conditions that come into mind when we mention smoking, but besides these devastating illnesses there are also plenty of health conditions such as heart diseases, arthritis, eating disorders and many others that are linked to smoking. So it's pretty much evident why insurance companies charge higher rates if they find out that the person is smoking - because the risk of serious and life threatening health conditions is much higher in this group of customers.

What can you do as a smoker in order to get reasonable rates to insure your life with? There are generally two options, which are both not very easy to take. First, you can cease smoking for good and this ...
... will automatically assure you with more competitive rates. Still, in many cases you will have to wait for a couple of years before taking a life insurance policy because you may still be classified as a smoker by some companies if you have ceased smoking recently. It varies from company to company and if one insurer can classify you as a non-smoker in case you're not using tobacco at the moment of signing the policy, others will require you to hold from smoking for a couple of years in order to get non-smoking rates.

The second option is keeping the habit and shopping around. First of all, you should consider getting life insurance from companies dealing with high risk clients, because standard policies will certainly be a rather costly option for you. Sure, high risk insurers will still charge you with higher rates but they will be lower than those you would get at a typical insurance provider. By shopping around between different companies you may find really competitive rates. But always remember that it will be nearly impossible for your to get quotes as low as a non-smoker of the same age and health condition would get.

Some of you may think that you could drop smoking for the time of buying life insurance and then come back to your habit with better insurance rates. While this certainly makes sense, it is considered as insurance fraud and misinformation that could have unpleasant consequences. If the company finds out that you've been smoking after signing the policy as a non-smoker (say, by developing a smoking-related condition) then your policy may be eliminated and you will be required to pay a penalty for misinforming the insurance provider. So it's evident that fair play is the only way to play this game if you want the financial protection with your life insurance policy. And it's up to you to decide which of the options suits you best.