Will I get screend for nicotine when buying life insurance?

When you apply for life insurance, one of the steps of the application will be a medical examination that tests for a number of things. One of those things is the use of nicotine, and the results of the test, combined with your answers on the application, will be used to help the insurer set your premiums appropriately.

Your application will ask you whether you are a tobacco user or not. If you are, the application will ask whether you use it regularly or only on occasion, how long you have used tobacco, and what form you use it in. How you answer these question will help determine your life insurance premiums, but the final decisions will depend on the outcome of your medical exam.

There are many things checked during your medical exam, and some of those tests depend on a blood sample that is taken when the exam begins. Through your blood sample, the insurance company is able to determine whether you have nicotine in your system, and can tell by the accumulation of certain chemicals in your blood how long and often you partake.

Since a medical test is used to verify your application answers, it is not a good idea to try to deceive the insurer. If you claim, for example, to be a non-smoker but the test reveals that you actually use tobacco on a regular basis; your entire coverage could be threatened. Since you have falsified information on the application, the insurance company may choose to deny you coverage at all, and will increase your rates to correspond to the amount of tobacco usage at the very least.

For life insurance, tobacco use of any type is a serious risk. Smoking has been associated with many types of cancer, lung problems, birth defects, and other medical concerns, and insurance companies are becoming more and stricter about how they treat people who use the substance. The more you use tobacco, the higher your rates may be, but lying about your tobacco consumption could be worse than being honest in the first place.