Will drinking alcohol affect your life insurance plan?

Drinking alcohol occasionally will not tend to affect your life insurance policy. However, if you are a regular drinker, then you might face a problem in receiving a life insurance policy. Even if you already have a life insurance plan, there are chances that the insurance company might lower insurance coverage due to your avid drinking habits.

This is mainly because the insurance company feels that consumption of alcohol can have an adverse effect on your health, and you can die a premature death. According to a report by WHO, around 3 million deaths are reported worldwide every year due to harmful consumption of alcohol, and it further becomes difficult for beneficiaries of the policyholder to understand how to claim insurance if the policyholder was an alcoholic.

Can alcoholics get life insurance?

While consuming alcohol in limitation is deemed admissible, extreme drinking can be a matter of serious concern for all insurance providers. This is because drinking in abundance has been associated with adverse health diseases like increased blood pressure, kidney and liver ailments, along with coronary disorders. Apart from this, there are also occurrences where unrestrained alcohol intake can cause mental imbalance and obstinate cravings.

Hence, while assessing your eligibility for a life insurance policy, alcohol intake plays a dominant role in defining your premiums. Apart from this, if you are a regular drinker, your odds of receiving a life insurance policy are extremely low. In case a person started drinking after taking a life insurance policy, then, in this case, the insurance company can conduct your medical examination.

If the alcohol level in the body exceeds the prescribed limit, the company can increase the amount of the premium you are paying for an enhanced risk cover to your loved ones. Therefore, you must always keep a close watch on your alcohol use to ensure that you are not charged a higher premium.

However, if you are one who was previously a regular drinker and now recovering from that habit, then you are eligible to receive a life insurance policy if you take the following steps.

• A record that you have given up on alcohol and how this cutting down on the consumption has enhanced your physical and mental health.
• Proof of your improvement backed by a medical practitioner to boost the reliability of your life insurance application.
• Inform your insurance provider about the rehabilitation program that you are attending and also that you have triumphantly accomplished your rehabilitation course.
• If you never got arrested for a drunk driving case, then you can also present your driving records to the insurance company.

How do drinking habits affect your life insurance plan?

If a person drinks a limited amount of alcohol only on some special occasions and it does not have any adverse effect on their health, then there is no problem for them to qualify for and receive a life insurance policy. However, if a person drinks excessively and that too on a regular basis, then there are chances that the insurance company might reject your life insurance application. If you already have one, you will be levied a much higher premium than what a non-drinking person of your age pays.

The main reason for this non-consideration is because alcohol tends to reduce the life expectancy of the person consuming it, and the person can even die early, making the insurance company liable to pay the assured amount. Apart from this, if you have any criminal case of Driving Under Influence (DUI), then it can become 100 times more difficult for a person to buy a life insurance policy.

In addition to this, if the insurance company finds out that the policyholder who departed in an accident was under the influence of alcohol and the alcohol level was more than the prescribed ones at the time of the accident, then, in this case, the policy provider is not liable to pay any coverage amount to the family of the policyholder.

What is the accepted alcohol intake by an insurance company standard?

The accepted alcohol intake of a policyholder usually varies from one insurance company to another. While any amount of alcohol is bad for your health, if you have a habit of consuming it, always make sure that you do it in limit and at the level prescribed by the life insurance companies. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has set a limit on the intake of alcohol consumption, and any intake above it will be considered excessive drinking.

The prescribed level of permissible blood alcohol content in India is 0.03% per 100 ml blood. That means 30mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood is the accepted standard of alcohol intake. If you drink more than this level, then you will likely be seen at an enhanced level of risk by your insurance company, and your insurance provider will increase your life insurance premium.

Not drinking frequently may not harm the rate of acceptance your life insurance application, excessive drinking can. If you feel like you are suffering from excessive drinking syndrome, then it is advisable that you must consult a healthcare expert who can guide you on how to limit or curb your alcohol intake.

Will a whole life cover best option for people who consume alcohol?

A whole life cover option may be the best way out if you are considering to buy a term insurance plan. This option will offer protection to you till you turn 99! However, the premiums that you have to pay will be on a higher side as alcohol consumption impacts your health. So, if you are a habitual drinker, then you must buy a term plan with whole life cover.

Canara HSBC Life Insurance iSelect Smart360 Term Plan may be the one term plan that you are looking for. It offers spouse cover that means, you can add your spouse to the same policy at discounted rates. Your lifestyle and habits may impact your life expectancy. If something happens to you, your family shouldn’t go through the financial shock without any support. With the right term plan, you can secure the future of your loved ones. And especially, adding your spouse to the same term plan as yours will help them in handling the situation, if you happen to pass away.