Insurers do not differentiate between regular and casual smokers. They can identify you as a smoker is you are prone to using any form of product that contains tobacco or nicotine such as –
- Cigarette
- Cigar
- Cigarillo
- Chewing tobacco
- Vape pen
- Hookah.
When you will be filling out your life insurance application, you will be provided with a questionnaire where certain questions will be asked about whether or not you have a habit of using tobacco products.
In case you have used tobacco products anywhere between the last 6 to 12 months, you will be classified and treated as a smoker by the insurer. Although there are great rates on life insurance for smokers, you should refrain from developing this nasty habit in the first place.
It is the only way you can live a happy life with your loved ones and keep them from losing you prematurely.
Will it affect your life insurance policy if you take up the habit after getting your application sanctioned?
Most insurance companies have something like a provisional period. In the words of an insurance agent, it is technically termed as a contestability period. This is the time frame where your insurance provider can revisit the benefits their policy is offering you.
Now, in case you die within this contestability period, chances are high that your loved ones will be denied a payout if the insurer found out that you started smoking after they approved your application. If that didn’t happen, your loved ones might be compelled to pay an ‘adjusted’ premium amount that a smoker should have been paying to the insurer so that they can have the payout, at the end of the day.
Will you be committing fraudulent if you take up smoking afterwards?
You have not committed fraudulence per se when you were signing the papers for a non-smoker policy since you were not using tobacco products during that time. In case you die during the contestability period and your insurer finds out about your smoking habit which you developed after the policy was approved, they may or may not label your case as fraudulence. In such a scenario, your loved ones may lose the payout amount and wouldn’t be able to contest it as well.
In the end, it all boils down to the simple fact that whether or not you have taken a universal or whole life insurance policy. If you have chosen any of these two types of policies, whether or not you smoke, your premium amounts won’t be affected. The reason is simple – the premium amounts are fixed and they will remain fixed for the rest of your life. In case your health conditions take a turn for the worse, the rates won’t or should we say, cannot be altered by your insurer. But in case you chose a term policy, a medical exam will be conducted hence if you are a smoker, your policy will be affected. To be on the safe side of things, stay away from the nasty habit of smoking.