How Does BMI Affect Your Term Insurance Premium?

 

BMI is not the only factory that affect the premium of the policy, it depends on the underwriting policy of the insurer.

Compared to other insurance plans, term insurance comes with much lower premiums. This is because these plans only provide a death benefit and have no investment element in them. However, even with term insurance, the health of the policyholder plays a major role in determining the premium. A person with health issues may need to pay a higher premium, depending on the insurers underwriting policy, simply because they are more prone to diseases and have a higher probability of dying prematurely. Body mass index (BMI) is an indicator of health and can be used by insurers to assess the risk of death. Therefore, the best term plan is the one that offers you the best possible premium based on your BMI. But before you can choose a term plan, you need to understand what BMI is.

Know your BMI

The body mass index (BMI) refers to a person’s weight relative to his height and aims to reflect a person’s health condition. A good BMI indicator is based on age, gender, height and weight to arrive at a BMI score. This score is therefore affected by the, lifestyle, Certain medical conditions,, Diet, Exercise & Sleep Routine. . A BMI score within the range of 18.5-24.9 is considered normal, indicating his weight and height are proportional.

By formulae, a BMI score is calculated as body weight divided by the square of height. One can always use a BMI calculator to know his BMI score.

Alternatively, a BMI chart is useful, which is as follows—

• BMI between 18.5-24.9 is Normal
• BMI between 25 and 29.9 is Overweight
• BMI > 30 is Obese
• BMI < 18.5 is Underweight

So, a person with a BMI score higher than 25 may consider having relatively higher health issues than those with a score less than 24.9.

How to use a BMI calculator?

BMI calculators are available online and are easy to use. All you need is to submit your gender, age, height and weight in the scheduled spaces. Once the figures are provided, the online BMI calculator automatically arrives at your BMI score and suggests if you are normal, underweight, overweight or obese.

How does your BMI score affect term insurance premiums?

BMI is considered a reflection of one’s health status and indicates whether you fall into a high-risk or low-risk category. Accordingly, the premiums are decided for your term insurance. An applicant with a BMI score greater than 25 indicates he/she is an overweight. Based on this aspect, the insurer also tends to believe he’s more likely to get health issues shortly which might lead to an untimely demise and payment of the death benefit thereby.

Thus, a higher amount of premium is charged, compared to a person with a lesser BMI score. So, if you fall in the overweight or obese category, you may have to bear increased premiums

Nonetheless, the financial security of your loved ones remains intact. That’s what you need, right?

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