How Smokers Can Find Cheaper Term Life Insurance

Matt King Life Insurance Editor

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Life insurance companies realize that smokers comprise around a quarter of the U.S. population, and that large of a group cannot be ignored. However, shopping around for life insurance could not be more important for smokers, as underwriting criteria, resulting classification, and rates for smokers can differ drastically from company to company.

Insurance consumers are considered to be active smokers if levels of nicotine determined by the insurance carrier are found in the urine of the applicant.

If you have been smoke-free for a year or longer, it might be a good idea to shop for a new term life insurance policy. Not only could you qualify as a non-smoker and see preferred or standard non-smoker rates, but life insurance prices have been decreasing over the past several years, and you might just be surprised by just how low your rates could be!

It's important to recognize that urine tests are a part of all mandatory medical exams a consumer must undergo before a life insurance policy can be issued.

While some companies mandate that any amount of nicotine found in the urine classifies a consumer as a smoker, other companies do not count trace amounts of nicotine that can be found from smoking the occasional cigar or tobacco pipe or from chewing tobacco. Some companies may offer consumers who smoke less than 12 cigars a year or occasionally chew tobacco preferred rates.

Among cigarette smokers, some companies differentiate between moderate and heavy usage, and charge moderate or light users less than they would heavy users. Many use the differentiation of “standard” and “preferred” tobacco users. You’ll usually fall into the preferred category if you smoke but are otherwise healthy (with regard to weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol).

It is not a good idea to be misleading on your term life insurance application. Not only will recent nicotine use show up in a urine test, but even if you have stopped smoking for a short time just before to the medical exam, but if you do lie on your application and pass away, a life insurance company could refuse to pay your claim for misrepresenting yourself on your application. Your dependents would be left without financial security.

When you first buy a term life insurance policy, there is a set period of time, usually two years, called the contestable period. If you died during that time, your family or heirs could suffer if your insurer finds you misrepresented your smoking. If your death was not related to smoking, it might not matter.

But look at it this way: Is it worth a reduced premium to possibly put your survivors through a battle with an insurance company over your benefits? Or looking at it another way, you’re doing the right thing by choosing to protect your family with life insurance, why put your estate in danger by lying, especially when most smokers can still find affordable rates?

Each company has its own guidelines for how long a consumer must be free of tobacco to qualify for non-smoker rates. Some offer graduated scales with rates that drop the longer you stay tobacco-free.

At many companies, smokers who get life insurance and then quit may be able to qualify for non-smoking rates after a certain amount of time passes (although the length of time required varies by company, but can be as short as one year). If you have been smoke-free for a year or longer, it might be a good idea to shop for a new term life insurance policy. Not only could you qualify as a non-smoker and see preferred or standard non-smoker rates, but life insurance prices have been decreasing over the past several years, and you might just be surprised by just how low your rates could be!

Important terms from this life insurance article: smokers, life insurance, medical exams, nicotine, term life insurance policy, cigarette smokers

More information online: smoking cessation, Life Foundation