Insurance and cigar smoking

[publicspeakingnerd]

I have never had health insurance before. Overall im healthy(cept for the weight), but it wouldnt' kill me to get one of those, whatcha call it...checkups (i've never had one). Anyway, i saw an Ad for a health insurance company for those of us who don't get benefits at work (damn you wal mart for making me parttime!). I got a wild hair up my ass to call and find out if I qualified. Well, the first thing I got asked:

Do you smoke?

I tend to linger on that one. My cigar habit ranges from 1 to 2 a week. I told her that I smoke "The occasional cigar". I wasn't qualified. Oddly enough, it wasn't because of the smoking, it was because of me being only 5'3 and 220lbs. FEH!

But next time I am presented with the smoking question, how should I answer that? How do yall answer that? Is it going to hurt me when I do want to get benefits?

[gvarsity]

I think you need to ask them what they consider to be a smoker if you want to "play by the rules" I am sure they have a pretty strict definition. Otherwise IMHO if you don't feel like a "smoker" I would say you aren't a smoker.

[CigarNation]

Some insurance plans will let you smoke up to 10 cigars per year without any ramifications in terms of benefits or premiums. If you play the non-smoker card I've heard of guys not smoking anything for 60-90 days prior to a physical to make sure they're completely clean (except for a hair sample).

[Deuce Da Masta]

I told 'em I smoke the occasional cigar. Gives a higher premium but I still got coverage.

My wife is in insurance (State Farm) and she says it's based more on health history, age and current health status (i.e. overweight etc..). They ask the smoking question to see if you are a greater cancer risk (obviously if you're a smoker!) But I guess it's based more on the pack to 2 packs a day guy.

Who knows, she actually got denied coverage because she admitted to having chest pains from anxiety about 4 years ago, and I got approved being a smoker.

[ResIpsa]

If you smoke and lie and say you don't, that's reason enough for the insurance company to disclaim coverage if you you become ill. Personally, not a risk I would take.

[ccforme]

Some advice after going through this recently...give youself some time to "clean" up. They were pretty thorough with me. My choloresterol was bad and thye could tell how much alcohol I had my measuring some new enzyme thing now. They wanted to jack me so I said no. Gave myself a few months, ate better, smoked less (apparently contributes to choloesterol), and stayed away from the drinks. Went back to another agent did the tests again and got a great rate.

[c2000]

Originally Posted by ResIpsa

If you smoke and lie and say you don't, that's reason enough for the insurance company to disclaim coverage if you you become ill. Personally, not a risk I would take.

Right on,,when I bought my last insurance policy I admitted to smoking and had to pay a little more per month, now I don't have to worry about it..

Jerry in Minnesota.

[Junior]

I write very little health insurance(Anthem), but I would say lay off for about 30 days. It also depends on if they do any testing some do blood or a spit test some do none. If they don’t test they will pull your medical records and If you had told your doctor you smoke they will see it. On life insurance(Nationwide) I would lay off for 30 days that away you get the non smoker rate. My company has a celebratory cigar rate as well it isn’t smoker, but not quite non smoker rates. Most policies have a clause that after the policy has been in effect for 2 years you are set they can’t balk on the death benefit. You would be amazed what they can pick up on the blood test.

[Skinsfan]

I am not sure about health insurance because I have always got mine through my job but for life insurance they will more than likely make you pee in a cup and they can tell if you are a smoker or not.

[RobinCoppell]

Originally Posted by Skinsfan

I am not sure about health insurance because I have always got mine through my job but for life insurance they will more than likely make you pee in a cup and they can tell if you are a smoker or not.

How can that be if you don't inhale ? When I got a checkup they did some oxygen test on me and I scored 100%. I smoke probably 6-7 cigars a week, so who knows.

[smokemifyagotem]

I once briefly worked as a life insurance agent for a very well known insurance company. In order to test for smoking they did the swab of the mouth test. The unwritten rule of thumb was to not smoke for 7-10 days before if you want to pass. At the time I got a policy on myself and held off smoking cigars for i think about 8 days and I passed.

If I were still working for this company I might say otherwise, but if you really only smoke 1-2 cigars a week I would not mention it at all when getting the policy, but that is ultimately up to you. If, God forbid, you came down with something that is blatantly related to smoking (mouth cancer, etc..) you could be scr*wed.

I guess it kind of comes down to if they have policies for different "levels of smokers" like someone else mentioned earlier. If a policy exists for strickly cigar smokers and the rate isn't that much higher than a non-smoker I would def go for it. Personally, I don't think a person who smokes 1-2 cigars a week should have to pay the same rates as a person who smokes 2 packs of cigs a day, but thats just me.

[publicspeakingnerd]

Thanks for all the replies folks!

[trogdor | the burninator]

Originally Posted by RobinCoppell

How can that be if you don't inhale ? When I got a checkup they did some oxygen test on me and I scored 100%. I smoke probably 6-7 cigars a week, so who knows.

you absorb the nicotine through your gums. when you take a peepee test, they'll know if you've been smoking.