How your weight influences your life insurance rates.
When you apply for life insurance, you will be asked about your height and weight. This is because life insurance providers use this information to determine your Body Mass Index or BMI. But why do life insurance carriers care about your BMI? Here’s how your BMI can affect the cost of your life insurance.
- What is BMI?
BMI is a measurement that factors in your weight respective to your weight. To calculate your BMI, your weight in kilograms is divided by the square of your height in meters. A healthy BMI is anything that falls between 18.5 and 24.9. Anything under 18.5 is considered underweight, and a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is overweight. A BMI of over 30 is considered obese.
- How Does BMI Affect Your Life Insurance Rates?
Life insurers look at your BMI because being severely underweight or obese makes you more susceptible to serious health complications. This means that if you have a very low or very high BMI, then life insurance providers will likely charge you more for coverage. Please keep in mind that being slightly under or overweight is not enough to make your insurance rates spike unless it is coupled with conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
- How to Save on Your Life Insurance
If you want access to lower life insurance rates, then you should focus on getting healthy and getting your BMI into the accepted range. If you are able to get to a healthy weight and maintain it, then your life insurance provider may reward you by lowering your premiums. If you are currently at an unhealthy BMI, do not put off getting life insurance. It’s better to pay more for coverage temporarily than risk leaving your loved ones exposed to financial hardship.
This is how your BMI affects your life insurance rates. Do you have additional questions about your life coverage? If so, then contact the experts at VGW Walker Insurance in Texas. We are ready to assist you with all your personal coverage needs today.
