I thought there were financial benefits to being an insured non-smoker, but–never having smoked–it hasn’t come up and I wasn’t able to find out if non-smoker discounts are common practice or just something that SOME insurance companies offer.
Further–how the heck do they enforce this kind of claim (i.e., “I haven’t used tobacco in last 12/24/36 months…”), anyway?
Nope…no higher premiums for smokers (with the caveat that if you have a pre-existing condition, which is more likely with smokers, your rates may go up or you may be denied insurance).
There’s actually a good reason for this. If insurance companies started tuning rates based on behavior then anything is fair game.
Do you like bacon, eggs and buttered toast for breaksfast? That’ll cost ya…bad for the heart.
Do you like beer or wine? Pay up…bad for your liver.
Do you watch a lot of TV? Woops…not enough exercise…where’s your wallet.
Do you live in a city? Consider moving to the country where the air is cleaner…have you considered a second mortgage to pay for your insurance?
And so on and so forth…
BlueCross and BlueShield of Minnesota offers lower premiums for non-smokers. Remember, they were one of the groups spearheading that landmark suit several years ago against Big Tobacco, and offer a lot of programs to help smokers stop smoking.
Otherwise, as far as health insurance is concerned, for standard group coverage, smoking is factored into the premiums that everyone must pay.
As far as life insurance (and some auto insurance) is concerned, it is cheaper to be a non-smoker. This is because smokers die sooner and have (relatively) more accidents than non-smokers do.
Robin
BTW, you have to be tobacco-free (that’s all forms of tobacco) for six months. If you were on a medically-supervised smoking-cessation program, that’s sufficient proof. Otherwise, they’ll have to take you at your word.
Robin
Here in the UK I certainly pay less premiums on my mortgage protection insurance because I am a non-smoker.
It’s all up to the insurance carrier. In almost cases, life insurance is most definately dependant on your tobacco use (that includes chaw and snuff and the like). Medical insurance sometimes will offer different premiums for smoker vs non smoker.
They will take your word for it when you sign up (In some cases you need the signature of a witness who says that you don’t use tobacco), but I’d imagine that if you are paying the non-tobacco rate and you need medical attention for what is obviously tobacco related illness or situation, that coverage could be refused or that they could go back and charge you the differnece in premiums over the life of your coverage. (This last part between the ***s is just a WAG)
Ah yes, the life insurance game! Getting some now, as a matter of fact.
Smoking, alcohol consumption, dangerous recreational activities- all things that may prevent you from being rated as “ultra-double-secret-preferred” and your rates will be higher.
I remember when I was working for PADI, and most of our employees were also diving instructors. When the company was evaluating insurance plans, we had one hell of a time finding a provider who would give life insurance to our employees, since scuba diving is a HUGE no-no!
My State Farm insurance does charge higher life insurance rates to smokers, and the difference increases based on the length of time you’ve smoked and the amount you smoke.
How do they test it? They had a little white thing on a stick that I had to put into my mouth that they said tested the nicotine level or something. Maybe they were really testing my DNA for disease…hmmmm.
But they only test if you admit to being a smoker.
Of course, I got this insurance 4 years ago or so, so things could have changed since then.
I remember when I joined State Farm years ago they asked if I smoked. And I got to talking to the agent and she said that if someone lied about their smoking and then got sick with a smoking related illness State Farm had the right to not honour their policy.
They did a similar thing with motorcycle insurance and helmets. If you took out a policy for your new CBR600 and said that you wore your helmet all the time and then crashed and sustained major head trauma because your helmet was strapped to the back of your bike, whooops, there went your insurance.
My company-sponsored life insurance premiums are certainly higher for smokers. I’ve recently quit, but they won’t offer the non-smoker rate until I’ve not smoked a cigarette in 12 months.
On the other hand, the company pays 100% of the premium, so it doesn’t really matter if I smoke or not (well, as for as the cost).
There is one type of insurance payout where smokers benefit.This is the pension/sickness payout where a fixed sum is paid out every year. The smoker will get a larger payment than a non smoker. The thinking behind this is that the smoker will not live so long and so the total payments over the years will be less.
And I pay more as an ex-smoker. Because I was a smoker when I took out the policy, they continue to charge me the smoker’s premium, even though I gave up two years ago. IF I had given up a year before I took the policy out, they would have insured me as a non-smoker, even if I had subsequently started smoking again.
As for policing it, AFAIK they don’t bother unless you come down with a smoking-related illness, in which case they want to see some pretty solid proof that you are in fact a non-smoker.
Before the company would underwrite a large policy on my boss he had to take a physical.
Nicotine tested positive in his blood and he got the smokers policy.
If insurance companies are not allowed to vary their rates, then why do I (a 16 year old driver) have to pay a huge amount for insurance? Even though I am a significantly better driver than my 40-year-old parents?
Peace,
mangeorge
In Australia you pay higher premiums for life insurance if you are a smoker. But if you don’t smoke and sign up for life insurance you can then take up smoking and it won’t affect your premiums.
I hope they fix this loop-hole soon.
PerfectDark