How does alcohol consumption affect my life insurance premiums?

Depending on which insurance company you sign up with, even moderate drinking might affect your life insurance premium. According to the Society of Actuaries, 10 to 15 years of your life can be taken away from the abuse of alcohol.

Insurers don't have strict rules about alcohol consumption; however, they look at pieces of the puzzle and usually find out how much alcohol you drink when looking at your medical exam.

Christopher Graham, vice president and chief underwriter for Hartford Life says, "Underwriting is more of an art than a science when it comes to determining the risks associated with alcohol.' Your insurance company will probably ask you about your alcohol use when filling out the application. In fact, even if you lie about your alcohol consumption, your insurance company is likely to find out based on your medical exam or your medical conditions.

When taking your medical exam, you will probably be asked to give a blood sample. The insurer will find out if you drink alcohol if there are any liver enzymes. Alcohol-related medical problems might be signaled by elevated liver enzymes.

Kurt Carbon, director of non-medical underwriting for Northwestern Mutual says, "A motor vehicle report is more of an indirect indication of problems with alcohol. But a DWI conviction will make me look for clues that it might be something more than someone caught driving home from a party.'

Carbon says, "Part of the problem is that people don't like to admit alcohol abuse. Even physicians often just nibble around the edges, so we're always looking at pieces of the puzzle.'

If you are a serious alcohol drinker, then you should expect high premiums or a declined application. However, you will be able to lower your premiums. The only way to lower your premiums is to lower your amount of alcohol consumption.

Graham claims, "We take a look at the pattern before and then after a person makes a change. If alcohol was causing the liver functions to go out of whack, we would need enough change so that we could see he was getting the levels down and making sure they stay down.'

Once you have lowered the amount of alcohol consumption that you use, you will be able to receive lower rates. Not only will you lower your rates, but you will also improve your health. Considering the fact that alcohol consumption can damage almost every single organ of your body, quitting or lowering alcohol consumption is highly recommended.