What Counts as “Smoking - So what counts as smoking? Cigarettes are an obvious candidate. But there are many other forms of “nicotine delivery systems” that can peg you as a “smoker,” “tobacco user” or “nicotine user” when you’re shopping for life insurance:
Whether or not you’re a “smoker” is decided by each life insurance company, and the parameters can vary significantly.
Some insurers are lenient when it comes to cigar smokers. They consider you a non-smoker if you haven’t had a cigarette in 12 months, but you can smoke a pipe, cigar, or chew tobacco. However, you may not get the best non-tobacco rates. Some will consider you a smoker if you’ve used any of these in the last 12 months: Cigarettes, pipes, smokeless tobacco, chewing tobacco, nicotine substitutes such as patches and gum, electronic cigarettes, vaping.
Smoking vs. Non-Smoking Life Insurance Rates - Brace yourself for high life insurance quotes if you’re a smoker. We found that smoking rates will easily be double or triple a non-smoking rate. The increase will vary by your age, gender and the coverage amount, but here are examples of average quote increases for a 20-year, $500,000 term insurance policy.
Gender and age Non-smoking average rate Smoking average rate Rate increase for smokers
Male age 30 $303 $828 2.7 times higher
Male age 40 $397 $1,531 3.9 times higher
Female age 30 $281 $670 2.4 time higher
Female age 40 $344 $1,199 3.5 times higher
Methodology: We averaged the five lowest quotes we found online for healthy men and women of average height and weight. Rates are based on a 20-year, $500,000 term life insurance policy.
How Do Life Insurance Companies Find Out That You’re a Smoker - When you fill out a life insurance application, it’s crucial to be truthful with all your answers. Life insurance companies have many ways to verify everything you’ve stated on the application.
A primary method of verification is with a life insurance medical exam, which typically includes taking blood and urine samples. These samples will reveal cotinine in your system, which is a byproduct of nicotine. Continine can also be detected in saliva and hair samples. But testing for cotinine isn’t foolproof. Smokers may be able to slip through if they haven’t smoked in a day or two.
About 23% of life insurance applicants who use tobacco don’t disclose it on applications, according to ExamOne, which performs medical exams for life insurance companies. That’s based on the number of people who had cotinine in their urine tests but said they didn’t use tobacco.
Applicants ages 18 to 29 are most likely to fail to disclose their tobacco use (25.8%), according to ExamOne.
Life insurance companies have a keen interest in weeding out smokers who aren’t telling the truth. Life insurers lose an estimated $3.4 billion a year in premiums because of undisclosed tobacco use, according to Verisk, a data analytics provider.
Among the other ways a company could find out if you’re a smoker or use another type of nicotine:
Because the life insurer has no health information from you, these types of policies are among the most expensive you can buy. They also tend to offer only low amounts of coverage, such as $5,000 to $25,000. You can still be better off buying a traditional life insurance policy and resigning yourself to taking the medical exam and paying smokers’ rates
How Long do You Have to Quit Smoking to be Considered a Non-Smoker for Life Insurance - Generally if you haven’t smoked for 12 months or more, you’re considered a non-smoker. The non-smoking time length rules vary among insurance companies.
What if I Start Smoking After I Buy Life Insurance - Once you buy a policy, a life insurance company can’t raise your rates. So if you start deep-sea diving or smoking afterwards, you’ll still enjoy the life insurance rates you already locked in. The same is true for health conditions you develop after buying a policy.
The risk for life insurers that you’ll start smoking later in life is pretty low. Nearly 90% of cigarette smokers first try cigarettes before age 18, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
How to Find the Best Life Insurance Smoking Rates - The key to finding the best life insurance rates–whether you use nicotine or not–is shopping around. By getting at least a few life insurance quotes you’ll get a sense of what’s a good deal. An independent life insurance can help you shop the market and get quotes from companies that tend to be nicotine-friendly.
What If I Quit Smoking Later - If you purchased a life insurance at a smoking rate and have now quit for at least a year, you may be able to get a better price. You can ask your life insurance company how long you have to quit to be considered a non-smoker.
If you’ve passed that time threshold, you can ask for the rate to be reconsidered. That means you’ll take a new life insurance medical exam and your health will be re-evaluated. If you’ve also developed new medical conditions in the interim, those will factor into the new rate, too. So keep in mind that getting a re-rating isn’t necessarily a slam dunk after you’ve quit smoking.
- Vaping & e-cigarettes
- Bidis (thin hand-rolled cigarettes)
- Cigars
- Pipes
- Hookahs
- Chewing tobacco
- Snuff
- Dissolvable tobacco
- Nicotine replacement therapies (patches, lozenges, gum, inhalers, nose sprays)
- Heated tobacco products
- Marijuana users are sometimes also considered smokers, depending on whether the use is occasional or regular.
Whether or not you’re a “smoker” is decided by each life insurance company, and the parameters can vary significantly.
Some insurers are lenient when it comes to cigar smokers. They consider you a non-smoker if you haven’t had a cigarette in 12 months, but you can smoke a pipe, cigar, or chew tobacco. However, you may not get the best non-tobacco rates. Some will consider you a smoker if you’ve used any of these in the last 12 months: Cigarettes, pipes, smokeless tobacco, chewing tobacco, nicotine substitutes such as patches and gum, electronic cigarettes, vaping.
Smoking vs. Non-Smoking Life Insurance Rates - Brace yourself for high life insurance quotes if you’re a smoker. We found that smoking rates will easily be double or triple a non-smoking rate. The increase will vary by your age, gender and the coverage amount, but here are examples of average quote increases for a 20-year, $500,000 term insurance policy.
Gender and age Non-smoking average rate Smoking average rate Rate increase for smokers
Male age 30 $303 $828 2.7 times higher
Male age 40 $397 $1,531 3.9 times higher
Female age 30 $281 $670 2.4 time higher
Female age 40 $344 $1,199 3.5 times higher
Methodology: We averaged the five lowest quotes we found online for healthy men and women of average height and weight. Rates are based on a 20-year, $500,000 term life insurance policy.
How Do Life Insurance Companies Find Out That You’re a Smoker - When you fill out a life insurance application, it’s crucial to be truthful with all your answers. Life insurance companies have many ways to verify everything you’ve stated on the application.
A primary method of verification is with a life insurance medical exam, which typically includes taking blood and urine samples. These samples will reveal cotinine in your system, which is a byproduct of nicotine. Continine can also be detected in saliva and hair samples. But testing for cotinine isn’t foolproof. Smokers may be able to slip through if they haven’t smoked in a day or two.
About 23% of life insurance applicants who use tobacco don’t disclose it on applications, according to ExamOne, which performs medical exams for life insurance companies. That’s based on the number of people who had cotinine in their urine tests but said they didn’t use tobacco.
Applicants ages 18 to 29 are most likely to fail to disclose their tobacco use (25.8%), according to ExamOne.
Life insurance companies have a keen interest in weeding out smokers who aren’t telling the truth. Life insurers lose an estimated $3.4 billion a year in premiums because of undisclosed tobacco use, according to Verisk, a data analytics provider.
Among the other ways a company could find out if you’re a smoker or use another type of nicotine:
- Doctors’ records. Requesting your medical records is a routine part of many life insurance applications. Nicotine use will likely be noted in your records.
- Pharmaceutical databases. Life insurers often get lists of your past and current prescriptions. Nicotine use might show up here, such as a prescription for a smoking-cessation drug.
- Past life and health insurance applications. A company called MIB stores your past answers to individual life and health applications. If your past answers are different, it would be flagged here.
- Social media. Insurance companies are increasingly using social media sites such as Facebook to look for evidence of factors that affect rates.
- The sound of your voice. Verisk provides life insurance companies with analytics that predict whether you’re a smoker from the sound of your voice, combined with other data such as demographic and socioeconomic information. When you answer life insurance application questions over the phone–a common step called a tele-interview–you could be recorded. Verisk can analyze these recordings and flags people who are likely to be smokers.
Because the life insurer has no health information from you, these types of policies are among the most expensive you can buy. They also tend to offer only low amounts of coverage, such as $5,000 to $25,000. You can still be better off buying a traditional life insurance policy and resigning yourself to taking the medical exam and paying smokers’ rates
How Long do You Have to Quit Smoking to be Considered a Non-Smoker for Life Insurance - Generally if you haven’t smoked for 12 months or more, you’re considered a non-smoker. The non-smoking time length rules vary among insurance companies.
What if I Start Smoking After I Buy Life Insurance - Once you buy a policy, a life insurance company can’t raise your rates. So if you start deep-sea diving or smoking afterwards, you’ll still enjoy the life insurance rates you already locked in. The same is true for health conditions you develop after buying a policy.
The risk for life insurers that you’ll start smoking later in life is pretty low. Nearly 90% of cigarette smokers first try cigarettes before age 18, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
How to Find the Best Life Insurance Smoking Rates - The key to finding the best life insurance rates–whether you use nicotine or not–is shopping around. By getting at least a few life insurance quotes you’ll get a sense of what’s a good deal. An independent life insurance can help you shop the market and get quotes from companies that tend to be nicotine-friendly.
What If I Quit Smoking Later - If you purchased a life insurance at a smoking rate and have now quit for at least a year, you may be able to get a better price. You can ask your life insurance company how long you have to quit to be considered a non-smoker.
If you’ve passed that time threshold, you can ask for the rate to be reconsidered. That means you’ll take a new life insurance medical exam and your health will be re-evaluated. If you’ve also developed new medical conditions in the interim, those will factor into the new rate, too. So keep in mind that getting a re-rating isn’t necessarily a slam dunk after you’ve quit smoking.
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