Alcohol Consumption and Life Insurance

Life insurers WILL ask about your alcohol consumption on a life insurance application.  A good independent life insurance agent will ask you before you apply so you aren’t blindsided by a rate up after you apply.  Generally speaking, social drinking is fine…but it depends how social you are.

If you consume more than 2 alcoholic drinks a day, you generally will not be approved at preferred rates.  You will start at standard rates.  If you consume more than 3-4 drinks a day, standard will be tough to get.  You’re looking at a table rating or decline.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), excessive alcohol use over the long term can lead to chronic conditions such as depression, liver disease, stroke, dementia, cardiovascular problems etc.  So obviously life insurers take alcohol abuse very seriously because of its serious mortality risk.

You can’t lie about your drinking habits either.  Your physician knows if you’re a drinker and will document it.  If there are no records, the life insurance company can order an alcohol test.  This is called a CDT or an alcohol marker.  These tests are very sensitive and if you test positive, most of the time it’s an automatic decline.  Typically, if you drink more than 4 drinks every day, you will test positive.

The tough part about talking about alcohol for me is perspective.  The accessibility and acceptance of drinking in our society makes it hard to explain these underwriting guidelines to individuals purchasing life insurance.  For some people, 3 glasses of wine a night is their routine.  For others, they drink heavily on the weekends and nothing during the week.  You might not think of these 2 situations as drinking problems, but some life insurance companies do.  It’s not what you or I think is reasonable, it’s what the life insurance underwriters think. 

That’s why it’s important to use an experienced independent life insurance agent even if you’re a “social drinker”.  “Social” for you and “social” for a life insurance company can be way off in your thinking.  If you are honest from the beginning, we can help you obtain the best rates.  Each life insurance company underwrites alcohol consumption differently, it’s our job to find the company that will give you the most favorable underwriting and offer the best rates.