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VonWalter Benda
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How does smoking affect insurance?
Negative, without exception. In the best case, it doesn’t cost anything extra, but usually it does!
Table of Contents
–Why does it even matter?
There are risks associated with smoking, one represent an increased risk compared to the norm. Using the example of private health insurance (PKV for short) one can say that smokers have higher rates Head damage (= average cost per head; see BaFin probability tables) have as a non-smoker. So die z. B. women who smoke an average of ten years earlier – often from cancer – than women who do not smoke, like the Federal Statistical Office confirmed in a 2016 study. Whether the insurance takes this into account in terms of price is up to them, but more and more insurance companies are doing it.
Smoking surcharges
-Therefore, in the context of health issues (e.g. with term life insurance [kurz RLV]) also asked about smoking behavior. Here In some cases, smokers pay a premium surcharge of up to 200%. This is because the death rate for people under 70 years of age in Germany is very low and therefore the influence of smoking has a disproportionately high impact, which results in disproportionate premium surcharges.
Insurance health questions must be answered honestly, without exception. All the questions the Insurer in text form must be answered truthfully; as “Notification obligation” described in §19 VVG. There is no spontaneous obligation to self-revelation, ie one is really only limited to these questions. But you have to be honest, otherwise there are consequences from termination to fraudulent contestation of the contract, like described in §21 VVG “Exercising the rights of the insurer”.
Smoking costs money and leads to higher insurance premiums. Therefore, some “smart” smokers get the idea to explore the limits of smoking in relation to insurance …
Regardless of the moral judgment, this is a game of fire, which should be more than just a flat word game. There was a saying in the Bundeswehr that I would like to quote:
Anyone who steals or shits will go to jail!
So if the insurance company learns that the application questions have been lied to, it can cost the insurance coverage.
How does the insurance company find out about smoking behavior?
That depends on the division and the benefit case. First of all, it is important to check how smoking is generally detectable.
The following methods are used:
- Hair follicle test
- Urin-Test
- Saliva test
- Blood test
The results are different.
Detection of nicotine in hair
This test is very reliable because it can still detect nicotine for up to 365 (one year). Even the “cheaper” hair tests show a period of 90 days without any problems.
Detection of nicotine in the urine
The quality fluctuates, depending on how often and how intensively the smoker consumes the nicotine. Heavy or regular smokers can be recorded up to three weeks after the last “dump”. For occasional smokers (e.g. party smokers) the time window is up to ten days, more likely seven days.
Nevertheless, the urine test is many times as high as the concentration of cotinine is up to six times as high. The cotinine is the substance that is measured as evidence.
Detection of nicotine in saliva
This test is quick, inexpensive and without invasive interventions. Unfortunately, the measurement can at best provide evidence four days after the last consumption.
What about a false positive or confounding factors?
Certain foods (e.g. almonds, broccoli, cabbage, garlic, radishes, etc.) can falsify the blood test.
High amounts of thiocyanate can also falsify the result, which further falsifies the blood test in vegetarians or vegans.
The consumption of other tobacco-containing products (such as snus tobacco) can also falsify the result, especially since the amount released and absorbed is different.
Other factors that influence the tests are age, body mass, fluid balance (especially fluid intake) and the level of physical activity. I mean that in sporty, healthy, young athletes, the detection is more difficult because the degradation of the tested substances takes place faster. The fat, old couch potato, on the other hand, would have to fear longer that a proof could be achieved due to the slower degradation.
In general, a longer consumption results in disproportionately longer degradation. So if you have smoked twice as long, it takes longer than someone who has only smoked for a year.
Can you accelerate the breakdown of nicotine?
This is possible to a limited extent. Most important basic requirement: Total renunciation of consumption! Anyone who still consumes ruins their mining!
Nicotine breakdown
-But if you stop, you can control a lot through a healthy lifestyle:
- Drink plenty of water!
- Food containing antioxidants, generally healthy food instead of fast food & Co.
- Sport and physical activity, e.g. B. mattress sport, which improves well-being anyway.
- Reduce alcohol and sugar, not because it helps with nicotine, but generally because it is healthier!
Which definitely doesn’t help!
Snake oil sellers, globule vendors, nonsense talkers or other stupid stuff. The above-mentioned scientific procedures cannot be impressed by the pseudo-intellectual ramblings. I blame the evil pharma lobby, but there is no effective means of accelerating the nicotine elimination process. Neither in Germany, America, Japan or other countries!
Substitute products, for example menthol or mint (regardless of whether as a bag or the like), do not help but can be proven with the above-mentioned methods!
And what about passive smokers?
It would be correct that these would have to be punished with higher premiums. But that hardly happens at all. Evidence is difficult because nicotine hardly sticks to them. However, the difference to the active smoker can be very clearly demonstrated on the basis of nicotine and its metabolites.
The damage caused by passive smoking (e.g. obstructive lung disease or the like) manifests itself differently than with smokers. But here, too, there are initial signs that passive smokers will have to pay higher premiums. I suspect that this can not only be dismissed as a trend, but that it has been an integral part of the premium calculation for a few years.
How does smoking affect the premium calculation?
Every society assesses this differently, but there are trends that have emerged. Therefore the ranges known to the author are in the table below:
Smoking surcharge
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- + 50% to + 250% life insurance (including term life insurance)
- + 0% to + 30% private health insurance including sick pay and long-term care insurance
- + 0% to + 15% occupational disability insurance (BU)
- + 100% to + 200% Dread Disease (serious illnesses prevention)
A special feature arises with pension insurance. Due to the significantly shorter, average life expectancy, there are indeed providers who can be shown to pay heavy smokers an increased pension. With this bonus nobody catches up on the disadvantages of smoking! I just mentioned it for the sake of completeness. ????
How do insurance companies find out that they have lied?
In the event of a claim, and not infrequently by accident. Since we document very meticulously in Germany, a lot can be tracked. Anyone who lies would have to cover all traces. Talk to all doctors, dispose of the files at the health insurance company or association of statutory health insurance physicians, etc. That will not do! So when it comes to a claim, the clerk checks first. Should a suspected case arise, e.g. B. because the clerk is skeptical or the algorithms sound the alarm, then investigations are made, what z. B. may involve detectives.
Example term life insurance: In the event of a claim, an autopsy is carried out using the above test procedures. If this is refused, the insurance benefit will not be paid out.
Example of private health insurance: As part of a disease management program, old findings are requested from the family doctor from which smoking behavior can be derived.
Example BU: Anyone who becomes unable to work due to a lung disease must assume that concealed smoking behavior can result in freedom from performance. Anyone who receives benefits because of an accident could be lucky, but this is not intended to encourage untruth.
But that can become statute-barred, can’t it?
Yes and no, in theory but mostly not in practice. Theoretically, one could be lucky after ten years and false information would be statute-barred (cf. §21 III VVG). Unfortunately, many insurance companies write so-called obligations in their conditions, ie obligations to which the insured submits when submitting an application. And in these duties is often contain a passage that says that active smoking (including new ones) is notifiable! In the event of a breach of contractual obligations, the insurance can be exempt from payment. So once you’ve managed to withdraw, you’re not permanently off the hook.
Please don’t risk it! I’ve never seen a case where the smoking lie didn’t come back as a boomerang …
So how do smokers get good but inexpensive insurance coverage? Hire a neutral advisor, e.g. B. an insurance broker, ideally now!
Would you like advice?
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