Yes, life insurance is more expensive if you vape. If you are a nicotine user of any kind, you are considered a smoker and are subject to higher insurance premiums. Insurance for smokers can have 50-100% higher premiums compared to non-smoker policies.
Do life insurance companies consider vaping to be smoking?
This has put the vast majority of life insurance companies in the camp of considering vapers to be traditional smokers. In other words, life insurance companies don’t differentiate between vaping and smoking – it’s all considered to be smoking, and subject to higher premiums.
Do I need to declare vaping on my car insurance statement?
This will depend on your insurance provider, but some insurers only ask whether you’ve used nicotine products – so cigarettes or nicotine e-liquids. For these insurers you won’t need to declare vaping if you haven’t used nicotine in the last year – however this isn’t always the case so be sure to read all questions carefully when getting a quote.
Is vaping a smoking cessation product?
Though vaping is often sold as a smoking cessation product – which insurance companies generally favor – it nonetheless has a very high incidence of “dual use” practitioners. That is, people who vape but also continue to smoke traditional cigarettes.
What are the problems with vaping?
Still another problem is that the vaping industry is highly decentralized. There are thousands of small operators who are selling and manufacturing both e-cigarettes and vape juices. The absence of standardization makes it extremely difficult to make an across-the-board judgment for or against the practice.
A Brief History of Vaping
The vape and e-cigarette versions that we know today were the brainchild of a Chinese pharmacist named Hon Lik. A heavy smoker, Hon Lik used to smoke up to 3 packs a day. To help him stop his addiction, he created a device in 2003 that could utilize vapor to mimic cigarette smoke.
Key Facts About Vaping
Let’s take a quick look at some of the most important facts about e-cigarette and vape use.
What does Vaping Do To Your Body?
Recent research results link vaping to certain illnesses. But what and how exactly does vaping affect certain parts of the body? This section aims to give you an overview of its specific effects.
How Life Insurance Companies Assess Vape Users
Life insurance companies use a health rating table when underwriting applications. It works like a general guideline wherein your premiums will be determined depending on where you rank in the health class table. In general, it’s made up of the following 5 categories:
How Vaping Affects Life Insurance Rates and How to Find the Right Policy
If you vape or use e-cigarettes on a regularly and want life insurance, you should declare it on your application. Being truthful about your vaping habits will let you avoid potential headaches in the future. Such as, having your claim denied or getting the policy forfeited.
How Vaping Affects Life Insurance Rates
So how exactly can you get cheaper or more reasonable premiums if you are vaping? Well, there’s really no way around it. If you want the absolute lowest premiums you can get—you have to kick the habit.
How They Determine Your Life Insurance Classification
When you are applying for life insurance, you will go through a process that is referred to as underwriting, in which you will be given an insurance health classification.
Vaping Considered Smoking for Insurance Purposes
Whether you believe that vaping is better for you than smoking, insurance companies will still charge you a considerably higher rate in order to obtain life insurance.
What about Marijuana?
For the purposes of a health insurance rating, insurance companies view marijuana smokers the same way that they view tobacco smokers, even if you “vape” your marijuana. Unfortunately, vaping or smoking THC or marijuana based compounds will lead to more expensive life insurance even if you are otherwise healthy and the rate of use is infrequent.
Does vaping cause seizures?
Did you know that nicotine poisoning has been associated with an increased risk of seizures? While there’s no direct evidence that vaping causes seizures, the various cases noted by the FDA could not determine whether a particular brand or type of e-cigarette was implicated. However, what is known is that one of the e-liquid pods (around 0.7 mL) advertised and sold by the ultra-popular Juul, contains as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes.
Is smoking a cigarette bad for you?
The harm caused by tobacco smoking comes mainly from the burning of the cigarette and the smoke is bad for the cells in your lungs. Breathing vapor, on the other hand, while thought to be much less harmful, can still cause wheezing which can be a sign of emphysema, heart failure, cancer, and chronic lung disease.
How Do Insurance Companies View Vaping?
The practice of vaping is still in its infancy, so exactly how it is treated by life insurance companies is subject to some debate. Until recently, there have been companies that would grant life insurance policies for vapers with better ratings and lower premiums than would be the case for traditional smokers.
How many carcinogens are in vape juice?
While cigarette smoking involves 69 carcinogenic compounds, the vape juices used in vaping contain just five. And since most juices do include at least some nicotine, the FDA believes that there is little difference between vaping and cigarette smoking.
What is vaping smoking?
Vaping is short for vaporizing. Unlike cigarettes, in which you are inhaling the smoke from burning tobacco, vaping involves inhaling steam that is produced from heated liquids. The vaporizer device itself, which looks something like an updated 21st-century version of a tobacco pipe, is often referred to as the electronic cigarette, or simply an e-cigarette.
Is vaping a smoking cessation program?
At the same time, there are also people in official circles who argue that vaping represents a legitimate smoking cessation program, and should be seen in a more preferential light than tobacco smoking.
Is vaping better than smoking?
The reason vaping is considered safer than cigarette smoking is that you are inhaling water vapor, rather than smoke. In addition, though the juices that are put into e-cigarettes typically do contain nicotine, it’s usually in weaker doses than what is found in cigarettes. And some vape juices contain no nicotine at all.
Is vaping a health hazard?
Even though vaping has generally been shown to be considerably less of a health hazard than cigarette smoking, life insurance companies often link the two as one in the same.
Is vaping considered a dual use?
Though vaping is often sold as a smoking cessation product – which insurance companies generally favor – it nonetheless has a very high incidence of “dual use” practitioners. That is, people who vape but also continue to smoke traditional cigarettes.
Why are life insurance companies still considering people smoking these new devices to be in the same risk classification as cigarette smokers?
Because of the lack of research on vapes and e-cigs, most life insurance companies are still considering people smoking these new devices to be in the same risk classification as cigarette smokers.
How much nicotine is in a vape?
For instance, one cigarette contains about 9mg of nicotine, while one teaspoon of vape juice contains about 12mg.
What are E-cigarettes?
Getting into electronic cigarettes is a popular habit today especially for people who want to reduce their reliance upon cigarette smoking. Roughly 10% of the population uses electronic cigarettes today.
How long do you have to pay premiums after quitting smoking?
If, after 3 years , you have quit smoking, then you can continue paying the premiums at the start of the policy. If you have not quit smoking, you have the choice to keep the same amount of coverage but just pay more, or pay the same monthly premium and have your coverage decreased.
How many chemicals are in e-cigarettes?
This makes sense when you consider that e-cigs and vape juice flavorings have been known to contain over 6,000 chemicals. Not to mention, this type of smoking involves superheating condensed vapors in the form of liquids with a viscosity similar to syrup using lead coils.
Why are guaranteed issue policies higher than traditional life insurance?
Due to the inherent risk of people who apply for this type of policy, and the fact that payouts are inevitable , guaranteed issue policies have higher premiums per $1,000 of coverage than traditional life insurance coverage.
What is guaranteed issue life insurance?
This means that regardless of the applicant’s health, they can obtain coverage with no medical examination or medical questions necessary. These types of policies are permanent – they offer life insurance for life.
What happens if you don't tell your insurance you smoke?
Even if you don’t need to go for a check up, if you don’t tell your insurer you smoke and you die as a result of an illness that ‘could’ be related to smoking or vaping, your policy might not pay the full amount – if anything at all.
Can you quit smoking with e-cigarettes?
The last few years have seen a steep rise in people using e-cigarettes, or vapes, to quit smoking. While many have recognised the benefits of swapping tobacco for e-liquids, the technology’s relative infancy means health professionals still can’t be entirely sure about vaping’s long-term impact. Smokers have long since paid more for life insurance, ...
Do you have to declare vaping if you haven't used nicotine?
For these insurers you won’t need to declare vaping if you haven’t used nicotine in the last year – however this isn’t always the case so be sure to read all questions carefully when getting a quote.
Can you take out life insurance if you aren't a nicotine user?
If you take out a life insurance policy when you aren’t a nicotine user, and then pick up smoking or vaping during your policy term, you must inform your insurer. If you start smoking or vaping and don’t let your insurer know, they may refuse to pay out on your policy if you pass away.
Can you smoke and vape on life insurance?
When you run a quote for life insurance you should always be completely honest in all your answers – including your smoking or vaping habits. While admitting you smoke or vape regularly will see your premiums increase, the alternative is to lie and risk your policy being invalidated – which could leave your dependants without any pay-out if you pass away.
Is vaping a common habit in insurance?
As you’d expect many insurance companies and their affiliates have research wings to analyse the risk of certain activities, and as smoking and vaping are still common habits these are likely to be monitored.
Do you have to declare nicotine in insurance?
As with vaping and e-cigarettes, for many insurers it’s the nicotine that matters – so if you’ve used any nicotine products in the last year you’ll need to declare it. As a result you’re likely to pay more in premiums.
Do I Have To Tell My Provider I Smoke?
Many insurance applicants may be tempted to withhold the truth about their smoking and vaping habits because of how it impacts their premiums and coverage. However, honesty is the best policy for all tobacco users.
How E-Cigarettes Affect Life Insurance
Aside from potential long-term health consequences, one of the unintended effects of vaping is how it impacts your life insurance coverage. Luckily, most life insurance companies haven’t standardized the way they price their policies for vapers. This means that there may be some leeway on your policy, depending on what you smoke.
Policy Rates For Vapers
Regardless of which policy you end up choosing, your whole life or term life insurance rates are subject to a few considerations. This largely depends on your medical exam results and general tobacco use.
How Do I Improve My Policy Rates?
Smoking or vaping is one of the main things that can inflate your life insurance fees, but there are still ways to get the coverage and death benefit you need:
Conclusion
Vaping has become increasingly popular because of its reputation of being the “healthier alternative” to traditional cigarettes. Despite this, insurance providers tend to prince vapers’ policy rates similarly to smoker rates. However, there are alternatives and exceptions that every vaper can consider undertaking to achieve better premiums.
