Find out about life insurance for smokers from ASDA
Life insurance for smokers – the facts
If you smoke, you’re probably aware of the damaging effect tobacco can have on your health. And no doubt you’ve noticed the impact on your bank balance.
About three-quarters of the price of a packet of cigarettes is tax, collected to fund government spending and make tobacco less attractive to consumers.
But as well as the endlessly-rising cost of a packet of cigarettes, smoking can have other financial implications. The increased risk of developing a fatal illness means it bumps up the cost of smokers’ life insurance.
How much you’ll pay for life insurance depends on your age and general health, and whether you indulge in risky hobbies such as rock climbing or hang gliding. However, life insurance for a smoker aged 30 costs about a third more than for a non-smoker, and twice as much for a 50-year-old smoker.
Quitting is one of the most effective ways of reducing your life insurance costs, but to benefit you’ll need to plan ahead.
How often do I have to smoke to be classed as a smoker?
If you’ve used tobacco in the last year, you’ll be classed as a smoker by insurance companies – regardless of whether you’re a 40-a-day chain smoker or just enjoy an occasional pipe or cigar.
To benefit from reduced life insurance premiums you’ll need to have kicked the habit 12 months before you take out a policy. Insurers may seek a report from your GP to confirm you have abstained for a year. It’s possible an insurer will also ask for a chest X-ray to be carried out.
Insurers can run tests if they suspect a customer is not telling the truth about their smoking habits. This can include taking a sample of hair and checking for chemicals found in cigarettes.
Can I fool the insurers?
Smokers should resist the temptation to lie about their tobacco use in order to lower the price of their life insurance quote.
Insurers will ask a string of related health questions that could expose a potential customer as a tobacco user. They also run checks on the medical histories of about 20% of applicants to check for discrepancies with what they have been told on an application form.
If you were to fall ill with a critical illness, such as cancer, insurers would have access to your medical records which would reveal if you had lied about your smoking habit.
In a worst-case scenario, they could refuse to pay out anything. At the very least they are likely to reduce the amount they will offer. If you paid only 50% of the premium you should have for smokers’ life insurance, you might only be entitled to half of the agreed benefits.
