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How Smoking Affects the Cost of Life Insurance
Until toward the end of the 20th century no one gave much thought to the medical implications of smoking. It wasn’t something that was of concern at that time, but over the past couple of decades, medical science has discovered that smoking shortens the life span of women by 13.2 years and of men by 14.5 years. In addition, researchers have found that those who smoke lose more time from work and suffer from more respiratory-related illnesses (i.e., Asthma, Emphysema, Bronchitis) than non-smokers do.
Because of these discoveries, insurance companies began to change their underwriting policies and thus, the rate for smokers is higher than that of non-smokers, sometimes as much as $100 a month, depending upon the amount of coverage, the type of policy, and the age of the insured. For example, a ten-year term life insurance policy of $100,000 for a smoker through one insurance company is $24.21 monthly for a smoker and $13.83 for a non-smoker. The difference in rates is based on the observation that a smoker has a shorter life expectancy than a non-smoker does, and as such, there will be less time for him to pay the premiums into the policy before his family needs it for burial expense. Whole life insurance is much higher than the quoted rated since it additional benefits that term insurance does not.
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Certainly for those who partake of cigarettes, cigars, pipes and other means of ingesting nicotine into their system, this rating system seems unfair, like a punishment for smoking. However, it’s important to remember that recent medical research shows that smoking has a detrimental effect on the life span of those who succumb to its grasp. Because of the documentation from the research, insurance companies made the decision to include smoking among the rating issues in life insurance policies. With the many different health issues caused by smoking – cancer, emphysema, allergies, bronchitis, just to name a few – insurance companies have to change the scope of their premiums, and the only fair way is to raise it based on the number of claims within a particular rating group, thus the change in premium rates for smokers.
Of course, smokers are not the only high-risk group in the life insurance pool, but the do tend to be the most highly publicized. For years, insurance companies have asked other health related questions such as the history of heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer that have influenced the premiums on life insurance policies. However, it has only been in the last couple of decades that they have become aware of enough evidence to support including smokers as a high-risk group.
Example of smoker policies costs, compared to non-smokers:
- 35 year old female smoker in Massachusetts with regular health - Monthly cost of a $450,000, 30 year term life insurance policy: Around $109/month (non-smoker, around $48 per month) - Click
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- 40 year old male smoker in California with regular health - Monthly cost of a $500,000, 20 year term life insurance policy: Around $160/month (non-smoker, around $65 per month) - Click for Quote!
- 45 year old male smoker in New York with regular health - Monthly cost of a $200,000, 30 year term life insurance policy: Around $187/month (non-smoker, around $80 per month) - Click for Quote!
- 50 year old female smoker in Texas with regular health - Monthly cost of a $300,000, 10 year term life insurance policy: Around $100/month (non-smoker, around $45 per month) - Click for Quote!
- 55 year old male smoker in Florida with regular health - Monthly cost of a $250,000, 20 year term life insurance policy: Around $255/month (non-smoker, around $105 per month) - Click for Quote!
- 60 year old man smoker in New York with regular health - Monthly cost of a $400,000, 10 year term life insurance policy: Around $450/month (non-smoker, around $200 per month) - Click for Quote!