Unfortunately, most life insurance carriers do not distinguish between the man who smokes the occasional Padron and the guy who smokes two packs of cigarettes per day. This is important because if you smoke cigars and are looking for life insurance, you need to know where to look, or you’ll run the risk of being lumped into the same “tobacco user” category as the daily cigarette user, and will pay two to three times higher than what a “non-tobacco user” pays.
For example, one of the largest term insurance carriers around is Banner Life Insurance. In order to qualify for their best rating, Preferred Plus Non Tobacco, and therefore the lowest premium, you must fall into this tobacco definition: “No use of tobacco or nicotine-based products in the last 36 months.” They do have a special provission allowing 1 cigar per month combined with the urine analysis testing negative for nicotine, but you can see that Banner Life doesn’t bend much for cigar smokers.
… THE GOOD NEWS
There are some carriers that make better concessions for cigar users. For example, American General’s criteria to be rated as Preferred Non Tobacco is as follows: “No tobacco use for three years.” However, just after this definition, a note reads as follows: Underwriting is willing to consider the occasional cigar smoker under the following guidelines:
- The use must be admitted at the time of application or inquiry and all case data must coincide with the admitted degree of usage.
- No more than one cigar per week.
- No nicotine metabolites (cotinine) may be present in the urinalysis done for AIG or any other company within the past 12 months.
- No use of tobacco products other than occasional cigars for at least 5 years prior to the time of application or inquiry
That American General allows one cigar per week is a super aggressive offer compared to most carriers… and may be the best offer for a cigar user, depending on his usage. A few other carriers allow for a few “celebratory cigars” per year, still qualifying for non tobacco ratings, such as MetLife, West Coast Life, and Protective Life. But these only allow between 4-12 cigars per year, while AG allows one per week!
Your hands down winner for most liberal cigar use guidelines is Prudential Life Insurance Company. They have no limits to the amount of cigars you can smoke, AND you can test positive for nicotine on the urine analysis, and get their “Non Smoker Plus” rating! So as a cigar user, you see that you’ll most likely want to apply with American General or Prudential. Why bother with American General, you might ask? Well, their Preferred Non Tobacco rates are better than Prudential’s Non Smoker Plus rates.
Take a 40 year old male in good health who smokes a cigar per week:
He needs a 20 Year Term, $500,000 policy
American General: $41.56 per month (Preferred Non Tobacco rating)
Prudential: $71.10 per month (Non Smoker Plus rating)
However, if that same man smokes 5 cigars per week, he can’t qualify for American General’s Preferred Non Tobacco rating, nor can he anywhere else, so here would be the best quotes for him.
Prudential: same as above, $71.10 per month (Non Smoker Plus rating)
Liberty Life: $122.84 (Preferred Tobacco rating)
American General: $139.56 (Preferred Tobacco rating)
So if you’re a cigar aficionado, you would want to apply with Prudential.
In conclusion, cigar users do have non tobacco ratings available to them. It depends on where you look and how much you smoke. Your best bet is to use a broker like me, who knows where you can get the best deal.
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