You pay higher life insurance rates if you're a smoker, even if you're otherwise the picture of health. If all else is equal, life insurance companies consider smokers a higher risk than non-smokers because of the long-term risks of illness or death from smoking-related diseases, such as lung cancer.

[Let SellCarInsurance.com help you find affordable life insurance now.]

That's why life insurers ask on applications whether you use tobacco--that includes cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco. Resist any temptation to fudge the truth. If the life insurance company finds out you purposely lied, you could be charged with fraud. If it makes the discovery when investigating a claim after your death, it could deny the claim based on misrepresentation, and your beneficiary would not receive any of the policy's proceeds. If the insurer uncovers the lie in the first two years after issuing the policy, known as the contestability period, it could cancel the policy.

Quitting today doesn't mean you qualify as a non-smoker and can get lower life insurance quotes tomorrow. Typically insurance companies consider you a non-smoker only after you've abstained from tobacco for at least a year. An occasional cigarette or cigar might qualify you as a smoker at one insurance company but not another. The precise definition varies.

Tobacco use can turn up on a lab test as part of the medical exam for life insurance. If you're rated as a smoker at one company and think you can skirt the issue by abstaining for a few weeks and applying with another, think again. The exam results from previous applications are maintained in a data base by MIB Group. Insurance companies check the database when they receive new applications to find any discrepancies.

1. Could someone secretly take out a life insurance policy on me?
2. How does funeral insurance work?
3. What is an annuity, and who should buy one?
4. What is an independent life insurance agent?
5. Can I name someone other than a relative as the beneficiary of my life insurance policy?
6. Do I need life insurance if I am single?
7. How do I change the beneficiary on my life insurance policy?
8. How should I prepare for my life insurance exam?
9. How would a life insurance company find out that I'm a smoker?
10. Is it possible to donate a life insurance policy to charity?
11. What are the pros and cons of obtaining life insurance through an employer versus buying an individual life insurance policy on my own?
12. Are withdrawals from a variable life policy tax-free?
13. Does smoking cigars affect my life insurance rates?
14. How can I purchase group life insurance?
15. How do I convert part of my term life insurance to permanent life insurance?
16. Should I purchase a life insurance policy for a child?
17. What are the costs of exchanging my permanent life insurance policy?
18. What is the difference between a joint life annuity and a single life annuity?
19. My life insurance company has become insolvent. What should I do?