Often times smokers underestimate their potential for obtaining term life insurance at affordable prices, let alone adequate coverage levels. Although smokers indeed pay more for term life insurance, there is generally a unique policy for almost every budget, every lifestyle, and every stage of life. For smokers though, the need for comparison shopping for the best policy is everything, as underwriting criteria and rates for smokers can differ drastically from company to company.
Insurance companies classify smokers differently based on their tobacco consumption. Some companies differentiate between moderate and heavy usage, and charge moderate users less. Other companies use the classification of “standard” or “preferred” tobacco users, where smokers will generally fall into the preferred category if they smoke but are otherwise healthy with regard to their weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Those who recently quit may qualify for non-smoker rates, depending on the insurer’s guidelines for how long a consumer must be tobacco-free. There are policies that offer graduated scales, with rates that drop the longer a person remains tobacco-free — sometimes reaching non-smoking rates in the course of a year.
The process of applying for a term life insurance policy generally requires a medical examination that verifies the information provided by the applicant (height, weight, blood pressure, etc.). In order to identify tobacco users, most insurance companies administer a test that measures their body’s level of cotidine (byproduct of nicotine) in their urine or saliva.
The bottom line is that nearly everyone can find affordable term life insurance rates when paired up with the right company — even smokers. Nearly a quarter of the US adult population smokes, creating a significant market for life insurance companies to offer competitive term life insurance products.
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