3 Improvements To Your Health That Can Lead To Lower Life Insurance Premiums

Life insurance tends to be inexpensive if you're young and healthy – a half‑million dollars' worth of insurance usually comes with a premium that is smaller than $20 a month, on average, if you're 30 years old and healthy. You'd pay twice as much, however, if you were 40 years old. If you take medicine for hypertension, in addition, you'd pay $55 a month.

The good news is, it works the other way around, too. If you signed up for a policy a while ago, and you decide to work on your health, the improvements that you make could warrant a lower life insurance premium. You can ask your insurance company to be re‑rated. What follows are three instances in which you may have sufficient reason to ask your life insurance company to lower your insurance premiums.

Obesity is a major risk factor for many health conditions. You usually won't pay extra if you're only overweight by a few pounds. If you struggle with obesity, however, insurance companies do become concerned. A 45‑year‑old woman who is 5'7″, and who weighs a normal 150 pounds, would pay $40 a month. She would pay close to $70 a month, however, if she weighed 220 pounds.

If you are considerably overweight when you first buy insurance but then work hard to lose significant weight, you could apply to the insurance company to be re‑rated and to be assigned a lower premium.

Some health conditions like high blood pressure and depression tend to stay with people for life. People with these conditions are at risk for lower life expectancy. For this reason, they tend to pay higher life insurance premiums. If you've been prescribed medications since you purchased your policy, however, and your condition is under control, you could apply to have your premium lowered. You only need to ask.

When you apply for life insurance, your agent makes a point to ask you if you smoke or use nicotine in another way. If you do, it could greatly send up your insurance premiums. If you've successfully given up smoking since you bought your life insurance policy, however, you would qualify for their non‑smoker premium. You begin to qualify if you've stayed smoke‑free for a year, but get the best rates possible when you stay clean for five years.

While your health and your age have the greatest effect on your life insurance premiums, insurers consider a number of other factors, as well. If you have a DUI on your driving record, for instance, or have a poor credit rating, these could make your premiums higher. If you dramatically improve your credit rating or have recently seen a DUI fall off your driving record, you could apply to be re‑rated.