Health Helps In Life Insurance Rate

What are the chances you’ll die within the next several years? That’s the unpleasant question insurers weigh when they price life insurance. 

Your ability to get life insurance and the price you’ll pay are based on your risk of dying while the policy is in force. If you’re in good health and make low-risk lifestyle choices, you can qualify for better rates than someone who’s overweight and uses tobacco, for example.For life insurance companies, the name of the game is life expectancy. They need to predict your life span in order to accurately price their policies.

Unfortunately, some health risks are not under your control. For instance, you can’t control your family’s history of heart disease and cancer, which can affect the price of your policy. But there are some things you can do to get better rates, especially if you start early.

How life insurers measure your health

Life insurance pricing is based on how the insurer classifies you. This is determined largely by your health and habits, as revealed through interviews, medical and prescription drug records, and a medical exam. Although the names of these insurance plans may differ among insurance companies, their requirements are similar.

If you’re in excellent health and don’t use nicotine products, you could qualify for super preferred rates, the best available. Preferred rates are for folks in good health, and standard rates are generally given to people of average health. Smokers get their own, higher rates.

These categories could make a difference of hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your annual premiums.

Smoking is the greatest cost

Of all single factors in life insurance quotes, smoking or using other nicotine products has the most weight. Even with an otherwise clean bill of health, smokers’ rates are higher if he or she smokes, chews tobacco or even uses nicotine gum.

Keep in mind that you can’t quit smoking today to qualify for the more affordable rates tomorrow. To offer better rates, most insurers want applicants to have been nicotine-free for at least a year. And if you’re trying to qualify for the best rates — a super preferred or equivalent category — you’ll need to have abstained for at least five years.

Your diet and fitness count

Eating and exercise habits can also play a role in how much you’ll pay, though not directly. Your overall fitness and nutrition affect health metrics like weight, cholesterol levels and blood pressure, and the insurer will look at these numbers when deciding your rates.

If you have high cholesterol or high blood pressure, you’ll pay more, even if you’re otherwise healthy. Likewise, you’ll pay more if you’re overweight but healthy.

For example - a man 5 feet 10 inches tall should weigh 199 pounds or less to receive its top tier classification with the lowest rates. A 5-foot-5-inch woman should weigh 161 pounds or less.

Risky behaviors could make you uninsurable
A few factors could block you from getting a policy entirely, at least for a time.

You may have to wait five years after a drunk driving conviction to qualify for the best rates, and there are typically caps on how many moving violations you can have on your driving record in order to get good rates or even qualify for a policy.

A history of alcohol or drug abuse within the past several years could also preclude you from getting coverage.

Ask to be re-rated

Even if you had poor health when you bought your life insurance policy, don’t despair. Once you’re a customer, if you have a major health improvement since the time you bought your policy, you can ask to have your policy ‘re-rated. Keep in mind that your older age and any new health issues will be factored into the new price, but a re-rating could still lead to a good savings on your life insurance.

Lying Can Cost You In Life

One lie could save you hundreds of dollars on life insurance premiums and possibly be the difference between getting a policy or a denial. However, if you’re caught lying, your beneficiaries could be left empty-handed.

Does dishonesty pay?

How much you pay for life insurance depends on many factors such as the amount of coverage, and in the case of term life insurance, the length of the policy. One of the biggest factors is your life expectancy. Any indication of ill health or future risk can cost you. Depending on the insurance company and policy specifics, here are some common lies people tell insurers:

Tobacco use. Lying about tobacco use could save you substantial premiums. 

Marijuana use. Depending on the insurance carrier, lying about marijuana use, whether legal in your state or not, could help you avoid higher smokers rates or save you from a policy denial.

Mental health problems. One of the most common health-related lies, is lying about mental health status. This lie could mean that you’ll qualify for better rates or get approved for a policy when you would otherwise receive a denial.

Income. Lying about your income isn’t likely to save you money, but the lie could mean that you qualify for a larger-value policy, particularly if you’re applying for permanent life insurance.

Family health history. Even if you’re healthy, lying about your immediate family’s history of certain kinds of cancer and heart disease, in particular, could result in the best rate classifications and possibly save you several hundred dollars annually.

What does dishonesty cost?

The consequences of life insurance dishonesty depend largely on if and when your lie is discovered, Beck says. The underwriting process, when the insurance company determines your life expectancy and resulting rate, exists to determine the insurer’s risk and to uncover any discrepancies on your application. The insurance company will see your medical records, prescription-drug history and likely order a medical exam with lab tests.

But if your lie isn’t discovered until after you’ve signed on the dotted line, the timing of its discovery is essential.

There is typically a two-year contestability period with policies. Misstatements and outright lies discovered within those two years could lead to higher rates, cancellation of the policy or a deduction from the payout to your beneficiaries because of the lie. After two years, insurers could still decide not to pay a death benefit if they discover intentional lies, or fraud, in the application.

If your lie is discovered before your death, however, your premiums likely will be adjusted unless the lie would have resulted in the denial of coverage. You both have a vested interest. Insurers want to keep customers, and you want to keep your insurance policy, so a lot of it will depend on the severity of the lie.

Is lying worth the risk?

Dishonesty always comes with the risk of getting caught. But in the case of life insurance, it isn’t only your financial security on the line.

“Life insurers have a responsibility to current and future policyholders to fairly and accurately assess risk in addition to fighting fraud. Underwriting risk based on inaccurate information could lead to higher premiums for future policyholders.

Perhaps more importantly, your beneficiaries also stand to lose big. The healthier you seem, the less you’re likely to pay, but lying to save a few bucks now could cost your beneficiaries the entire policy payout. Consider your reasons for buying life insurance in the first place and then ask if saving a little now would be worth losing it all later.

Rape Victim Punished

Abu Dhabi - A Dutch woman who reported being raped while on holiday in Qatar has been jailed since mid-March and could face charges of adultery. The 22-year-old woman, whom CNN has identified only as Laura, was at a hotel bar having drinks with a friend, but then had a drink that made her feel "very unwell. 

She reportedly woke up in an unfamiliar location and realized "to her great horror" that she had been raped after her drink was spiked, Lokollo said. When she reported the rape to the police, she herself was imprisoned.

"I do not know what the charges are. To my knowledge she is being held in custody because she reported that she was raped," Lokollo told CNN Sunday. According to Lokollo, she is due to appear before a judge Monday in the Qatari capital where the official charges will be heard for the first time.

The Dutch government and its embassy in Doha are in close contact with the defendant and her family in the Netherlands, according to a statement from the embassy. Adultery," or "fornication outside of marriage," is a crime in Qatar as well as other countries in the conservative Muslim Gulf regardless of the marital status of those involved.

According to Qatar's Penal Code of 2004 (Law No. 11), "anyone who copulates with a female above sixteen without compulsion, duress or ruse is convicted to no more than seven years in prison. The same penalty is also imposed on the female for her consent. "

In the nearby United Arab Emirates in 2013, a Norwegian woman who reported being raped by a colleague was sentenced to 16 months in jail, charged for having unlawful sex, making a false statement and the illegal consumption of alcohol. Marte Deborah Dalelv was later pardoned by Dubai's ruler. 

Disposing Assets Before Bankruptcy

A businessman pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court here today to 19 counts of fraudulent disposition of property, worth RM35 million, to avoid paying his debts. Lim Kwee Gee, 43, made the plea after the charges were read out to him before Judge Kamarudin Kamsun.

He was charged with committing the offenses at the Johor Baru Land and Mines Office between July 2011 and February 2011.Seven of the charges were for transferring property belonging to MegaFest Sdn Bhd to himself, his company and another person to prevent distribution of the assets to his eight creditors, including RHB Bank and OCBC Bank Berhad.

The other 12 charges were for dishonestly preventing the property belonging to MegaFest Sdn Bhd and another from being made available to the creditors by transferring the property to his name, his company and another person.

Lee, from Taman Suria here, was charged under Section 421 and 422 of the Penal Code which provides an imprisonment for up to five years and fine, if found guilty.