- Insurance companies use the Body Mass Index to evaluate weight according to independent online insurance broker, insure.com, and jdpower.com, the McGraw-Hill consumer website. BMI is an expression of the amount of body fat you carry in relation to your height and weight. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you are overweight if your BMI is in the range of 25 to 29.9 and you're obese if your BMI is 30 or higher.
- You can use the CDC online calculator to compute your BMI. The National Heart Blood and Lung Institute at the Department of Health and Human Services website has posted an online BMI table.
- Generally, the more you weigh in relation to your height, the more you pay. If you are only about 10 pounds overweight, your rate will not go up, according to insure.com.
- Insurance underwriting is based on mortality rates. Being overweight or obese increases risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, gall bladder and liver disease, stroke, and some cancers, all of which can lead to an early death, according to the CDC. The ideal life insurance company customer has a long and healthy life.
- Weight and health standards can vary considerably among insurance companies even with the use of the BMI, according to insure.com. Each insurance company has its own underwriting guidelines that take all factors into consideration. For example, applicants who are 65 and older are often not held to the strictest weight standard, according to insure.com. Thus it is especially critical to check around for the best rates when shopping for life insurance.
previous post