Smoking is injurious for your health and can also have an adverse impact on your pocket as well while purchasing your term insurance. Smoking can result in your poor health conditions and untimely death which makes insurance providers quite cautious while issuing the policy. It has been one of the major causes of a huge number of dangerous health ailments such as lung diseases, strokes, tuberculosis, heart diseases, etc. This makes having term insurance even more essential for you.
While purchasing a term insurance plan, it is necessary that you must make a declaration of your smoking habit failing which can lead to claim rejection in the future. Also, you would have to undergo a mandatory medical check-up which would reveal your smoking habit.
Let us check out the guide which would give you the answers related to various aspects of the purchase of term insurance if you are smoking.
How are Smokers Defined by Insurance Providers?
You would be considered as a smoker by an insurance provider if you are consuming nicotine or tobacco in any form such as cigars, beedi, cigarettes, khaini, or any other form of flavoured pan masala. Insurance providers would ask you several questions for understanding about your smoking habit.
The common questions which you would have to answer if you are a smoker and planning to purchase a term insurance plan are:-
- Did you ever consume any tobacco products?
- Are you a regular consumer of tobacco or any other nicotine products?
- Have you consumed any kind of tobacco product in the last four years?
When your reply to any of these questions is yes, then you would be considered a smoker by the insurance company. Moreover, insurance providers do not have any differentiation if you are a frequent smoker or an occasional smoker. You would also be a part of the same category if you smoke occasionally. The premium rates would be low if you have been away from tobacco or nicotine products completely.
Why do Insurance Providers Charge a Higher Premium for Smokers?
As a smoker, you would have a low life expectancy and would be highly susceptible to various ailments such as bronchitis, heart ailments, lung cancer, etc. You would tend to have a shorter life span than that of the non-smoker policyholder thus, increasing the risk for the insurance provider. So, the insurance premium would be higher.
How Much Extra Premium is Charged for Smokers?
The extra premium charged for smokers would be different for different insurance providers. Apart from your habit of smoking, other factors like your age and health condition would be the additional factors to be considered while deciding on the premium of the term insurance plan.
Let us check out the term insurance premium rates for smokers and non-smokers offered by different insurance companies.
Insurance Provider | Plan Name | Premium Rates for a Year (in INR) | |
|---|---|---|---|
Smoker | Non-smoker | ||
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance | iProtect Smart | 12,129 | 6,832 |
HDFC Life Insurance | 3D Plus Life Option | 12,102 | 6,817 |
Max Life Insurance | Online Term Plan Plus | 7,965 | 5,664 |
Reliance Life Insurance | Digi Term Plan | 8,856 | 5,970 |
Aegon Life Insurance | iTerm Plan | 7,403 | 5,229 |
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance | Smart Protect Goal Term Plan | 6,217 | 4,459 |
PNB MetLife Life Insurance | Mera Term Plan | 8,319 | 6,254 |
TATA AIA Life Insurance | Maha Raksha Supreme Term Plan | 9,912 | 7,670 |
Kotak Life Insurance | e-Term Plan | 8,260 | 5,546 |
Future Generali Life insurance | Flexi Online Term Plan | 7,964 | 5,259 |
What Would Happen on the Non-disclosure about Smoking?
If you are not disclosing your habit of smoking at the time of filing your application for the term insurance plan, then it would be considered a fraud.
The implications of this non-disclosure can be:-
- You would be charged with the allegations of fraud.
- The insurance provider would consider the term insurance plan as null and void.
You must understand that a term insurance plan would be helpful for your family members in case of your untimely demise. So, if you are hiding any of your details about smoking from the insurance provider then the financial security of your family would be at risk.
What If You Quit Smoking After the Purchase of the Term Insurance?
If you have been able to quit smoking after the purchase of your term insurance plan, then you can put up a request to your insurance provider for premium recalculation. This can be done at the time of your insurance renewal. Your insurance provider would reduce the insurance premium rates depending on the period that has passed after you quit smoking. Usually, the rules related to the quitting of smoking are different for different insurance providers but most of the insurance companies would consider you as a non-smoker if you have not consumed any tobacco or nicotine products for the last two years after purchasing the term plan.
Conclusion
Even though smoking is highly dangerous, it has become a part of the lives of many people. One of the simplest ways by which you can ensure the financial security of your family in such a case is by the purchase of a term insurance plan. Even if you are a smoker, you must not hesitate from taking a term insurance plan with the worries about its premium. This guide on the aspects related to term insurance if you are into smoking will help you in ensuring the financial security of your family.
