Smoking is well known to affect your health for the worse. The habit can dramatically shorten your lifespan by causing illnesses such as a variety of cancers, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes, to mention a few. But you didn’t come here for a lecture… But, when it comes to your life insurance premium, the answer then is, yes, due to the risk factor you will be in for higher monthly life insurance costs.
Here are a few more detailed responses to frequently asked questions about smoking and your life insurance protection plan.
Will my premium cost more if I am a smoker?
Yes. As the habit of smoking puts you more at risk, your premiums for life insurance protection can be anywhere from 40% to even 100% more than premiums for non-smokers. This discrepancy depends on your age and general health profile.
What if I only smoke occasionally?
If you only smoke with the proverbial cup of coffee or glass of wine, then yes, you still qualify as a smoker in the purview of insurance protection brokers.
What if I don’t reveal that I smoke?
For optimum protection from your insurer, you want to be honest about your habits on your form. Otherwise, your insurance provider will likely not want to pay out in full should something related to your smoking come up in your health records.
Some companies may pay out a smaller portion of the costs of a health incident, depending on what your real insurance premium would have been if you had declared your smoking. Many will not payout at all. A lot of companies do check up with health professionals as well when you sign up. In sum, honesty is the best policy.
What are the criteria for being rated a non-smoker?
To be rated as a non-smoker to your life insurance provider, you will need to have never smoked or not have smoked at all for at least 12 months. The restrictions apply if you only smoke the odd cigar or if you use some form of e-cigarette.
As the research about the health benefits of ‘vaping’ is still underway, insurers treat it the same as smoking regular cigarettes.
If you can, quitting smoking is your best option – health-wise, and to bring down your life insurance premium. If you have an existing policy, and you have stopped for over a year, insurance providers do bring your premium down, depending on your state of health.
How can I stop smoking?
Studies have shown that people who have support systems are more likely to kick the habit. You can try nicotine patches or tablets either with the support of your GP. Alongside this, you should also join a stop-smoking group. These groups can be actual or online.
You can also go to a life coach or counsellor, buy some guide books, and ask your family and friends for their help and support.
Do you smoke and need life insurance?
However, smoking should not be the reason you decide not to get life insurance, what we recommend is booking a chat with Kelly, our specialist advisor who will be able to look at all of your available options.
At Yes Mortgage Services, we offer a comprehensive range of products from across the market.
Irrespective of whether you are looking to buy a new home, re-mortgage an existing property, or looking to protect your family from the unpredictability that life throws at it or protect your income if you are unable to work due to accident or ill health.
Yes Mortgage Services are committed to offering you the highest possible standards of service. We can undertake the whole process from answering the initial questions through to handling multiple product applications. Ensuring that everyone gets treated with the same urgency and maintaining your best interests are our main goals irrespective of the value of the mortgage.
We recognise that both we and our customers have everything to gain if we look after your best interests and treat you fairly in all aspect of our dealings with you.
