Smoking, as we all know by now, is bad for our health. Whether you smoke or you inhale secondhand smoke, it's all unhealthy for you. They say that an average of 7 years is taken off of a smoker's life expectancy if he or she smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. By doing the math, unhealthy living plus smoking is equal to less years than those that have never smoked a single cigarette in their entire life. In theory, more diseases are being caused to "healthy living" people, as opposed to those that are regular smokers, due to passive smoking.
Insurance companies charge higher premiums to people who smoke. You may ask why and for sure the answer is as obvious as it gets. They smoke and that's why. Given the fact that 7 years is chopped off of their life expectancy, insurance companies make it a point of getting what they pay for.
A person who smokes may develop a series of complex diseases such as heart attacks, stomach ulcers, impotency in men, being less fertile in women, weakened immune system, raised blood pressure, emphysema and cancer among other things. Lung cancer, in particular, is one of the main or root causes for such heightened deaths. It is said that a total of 400,000 people die of smoking every year. Imagine how a single cigarette can change one's life forever.
Arguing on why smokers pay more for life insurance is an undeniable lost cause. Smokers are charged more for the fact that they statistically die younger. If not death, they usually make more insurance claims than a person who does not smoke at all.
Life insurance companies make it a point to address the adverse effects of cigarette smoking to society, the environment and to people in general. Risk claims are the number one factor for heightened costs of life insurance. Due to smoking, people tend to feel ill more than their non-smoking counterparts. Non-smokers, however, feel that smokers affect their lives at a medical level, leaving them more prone to sickness and possibly developing the same diseases without even lighting a cigarette.
A person's life expectancy greatly affects the cost of their life insurance rates - this means that if someone is more prone to diseases, the higher the chance of possible death.
A good thing about life insurance premiums is that there are certain classifications for the different types of smokers. These classifications are based on the last time a person has ever smoked. One who belongs to a "preferred plus" classification is one who has not smoked a single cigarette for five years or more. "Preferred" classification of smokers is given to those that have not smoked for at least three years and "standard" is given to those who have not smoked for at least 12 months, consecutively.
The classifications aforementioned are logical in the sense that "preferred plus" holders get lower premiums than that of "preferred" holders. "Standard"holders, however, get to pay higher premiums than the prior mentioned. This is assuming that factors like weight, cholesterol levels and blood pressure are constant among the three groups.
It is advisable that you be honest about your smoking habits since all will be revealed once physical exams are done on an individual. If you want to stay away from higher rates, it is best you quit smoking a.s.a.p!
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