How Does Smoking Affect My Life Insurance Coverage & Quote?

Hi, I'm Byron Udell, founder and CEO of AccuQuote. So how does the use of tobacco affect your ability to buy and what you'll pay for your life insurance? We all know by now that smoking is bad for your health, but still almost 18% of adults in the U.S. smoke cigarettes. It's a fact of life and it's not going to change anytime soon, no matter how much effort is spent trying to convince people to stop. So I'm not here today to give you a lecture on the dangers of smoking. There's an old joke, quitting smoking is easy. I've done it a thousand times. Seriously though, most people can't quit smoking because of the highly addictive nature of nicotine. And some continue to smoke because believe it or not, they're just not convinced it's actually that harmful. Now we've all heard someone say something like, my Uncle Gus smoked his entire life and he lived to be 102. Well, good for Uncle Gus, but smoking, at least statistically, doesn't produce many success stories. For purposes of life insurance, the fact is smokers simply die younger than non-smokers, and that is reflected in the rates that smokers pay for life insurance. The deal, interestingly enough, is actually the same for smokers as it is for non-smokers. Smokers pay more, but on average, they don't pay for as long. Everyone knows that smoking is expensive. A pack of cigarettes can cost as much as $10, but the real sticker shock for smokers comes when they buy life insurance. Rates for cigarette smokers are significantly higher than for non-smokers. At age 40, for example, for a 20-year level term policy, the most popular type of life insurance today, the cost is roughly four times what a healthy non-smoker pays. And even if you quit, the insurance companies require that you be smoke-free for at least a year before you can qualify for better rates. Now, there is some good news. If you only occasionally smoke a cigar, pipe, or chew nicotine gum, some life insurance companies won't penalize you for that. So, if you just smoke a cigar occasionally on the golf course, for instance, it may not affect your rate at all. The bottom line, which I'm sure you're getting by now, is that if you want the best rates on life insurance, don't smoke, at least not cigarettes. If you do, though, don't even think about lying about it to an insurance company. Not only is it fraud, it's just plain stupid. When you die, the insurance company has the right to investigate, and when they do, if they find out you lied about smoking or about when you quit, that gives them a reason to deny your claim. So, even if you are able to temporarily fool the insurance company, which isn't easy to do, by the way, because they will generally test your blood for nicotine on the insurance exam, you'd actually be running around thinking you have insurance, but you'd be deluding yourself because your claim won't be paid when they find out that you lied. So, you'd actually be paying premiums for nothing, and that's incredibly stupid. Now, some insurance companies are more lenient on smokers, and we know which ones they are. If you'd like more information, or if you have any questions, call us at the number on your screen. We'd love the opportunity to earn your business, and it would be our privilege to work with you. I hope this was helpful, and thanks for listening.