If you don’t already know how important it is to have life insurance, let’s change that right now.
Life insurance is something you buy to protect those you love so they don’t suffer financially if you were to die. Life insurance could be the only thing that stands between your loved ones and financial hardship. After all, it’s not about you, it’s about them.
Now that you know how essential life insurance is, you may be wondering about buying a policy if you’re overweight. Will I be declined for coverage? Will I have to pay extra premiums?
Since no two life insurance companies are exactly the same, you won’t find the same rates across the board for various weight categories, and the maximum weight for coverage varies across companies as well. According to nerdwallet.com, “Each company has its own cutoff points, but we found that generally men and women of average weight would have to pack on more than 100 pounds before they would be unable to buy life insurance”1. (The average height and weight in the U.S., by the way, is 5’9” and 197.8 pounds for men and 5’3.6” and 170.5 pounds for women, according to the CDC2.) Many insurance carriers increase the rates if you are overweight. Nerdwallet.com notes that insurance companies use build charts to help agents determine which rates their clients will receive, and that the best rates typically “go to the people who are the healthiest and are within certain height/weight ranges”3.
Weight, of course, is not the only thing insurance companies consider when calculating your life insurance rates – other health factors, age, and habits are taken into consideration, too.
Since your life insurance rates may be higher if you’re overweight, policygenius.com recommends shopping around “to ensure you’re getting the best rates for you.” And if you’re planning on losing weight, policygenius.com advises against waiting to buy a policy until you lower your weight “because it leaves your family unprotected”; instead, it suggests reapplying once you’ve kept off weight for a year or petitioning your life insurance company to let you take a new medical exam because it might lower your rates3.
If you’re overweight, it’s still important to provide some financial protection for your loved ones with a life insurance policy. If you have any questions, please contact a financial advisor or a licensed insurance agent.
- You Get Life Insurance If You’re Overweight? April 2, 2019
- Body Measurements April 2, 2019
- Can you buy life insurance if you are overweight? April 2, 2019
Categories: Insurance, Term Life Insurance, Whole Life Insurance