A common question that clients have is how their height and weight affect their insurance premiums. Insurance companies use height and weight to help determine your rating. Most carriers will use BMI to determine what category or rating you will receive. A person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) is based on height and weight. It is used to determine whether an individual is underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese. Often we can see insurance companies using a height and weight chart and BMI chart.
A general BMI chart
Having a good BMI can help you get an excellent rating from the insurance company. When a person has a higher BMI, this might adjust their premiums. Because when a person has a higher BMI, they carry additional health risks. A higher BMI could lead to other diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, etc. For this purpose, BMI does affect your rating and your premiums.
Will my BMI disqualify me from purchasing an insurance policy?
Your BMI can affect your insurance rating, depending on the insurance company. Some companies are very aggressive with BMI, and others are more conservative. Aultium works with many different insurance companies so that we can find the best, most aggressive company for each individual. One insurance company can offer Preferred Ratings to individuals up to a 33.5 BMI. This very aggressive offer can save a client thousands of dollars a year. Some companies will go up to 36.4 and still offer a standard rating. If you are not happy with the rating that you received from a prior insurance company or agency, click here for a short 10-minute, no-obligation consultation. We can let you know immediately if there is an insurance company that can get you a lower rating and a lower premium.
How do I know which insurance company is best for my BMI?
Working with an experienced agent is essential to determine which insurance company you should use. Here is an example of a couple of scenarios.
Miguel is a 45-year-old non-nicotine male. He is looking for a 20-year $1,000,000 policy to protect his home and family. He is 6' 1" and weighs 240 lbs. This would make his BMI 32. When you do a general search online, you will find the following premiums.
Insurance Company A - Preferred Rating $102 per month.
Insurance Company B - Preferred Rating $105 per month.
Scenario A - The client decides to bypass using an agent (which doesn't save him any money) to go with Insurance Company A because the premium is the lowest. However, after going through the underwriting process, it is determined that the client receives a standard plus offer. The new premium for the same policy is $136. The reason for the standard plus offer is that a BMI of 32 is higher than the allowable threshold for Insurance Company A to offer a preferred rating. So after going through all the time and trouble, he either has to start all over again with Insurance Company B, or he accepts the premium of $136 and moves on. Or even worse, he gets fed up with the situation and continues with his life without any insurance at all to protect his home and family.
Scenario B - The client decides to speak with an agent from Aultium. The agent determines that since his BMI is 32, it is better to apply at insurance company B instead of A. The agent knows that although the premium is lower online for insurance company A, the client will not qualify for the preferred rating that is offered. The agent helps the client through the process at Insurance Company B. The client receives the preferred rating, and the premium is now $105 per month. This saves the client nearly $31 per month in premiums.
One of the biggest myths in the insurance world is that having an agent will cost you a lot of money in commissions. They say if you go "direct" with an insurance company or if you go online, you can save a lot of money. This is not true. We have an article that discusses the importance of having an insurance agent help you with your policy.
What do I do from here?
A lot of people will read this and decide that they want to get the best rating they can get. So they commit to losing weight BEFORE they apply for insurance. Although I recommend losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, I also caution about delaying getting life insurance until you are perfectly healthy. Nobody will ever be perfectly healthy, meaning you don't have to be to receive great ratings. But we have seen time and time again that individuals try to get healthy before they purchase life insurance or mortgage protection, and they end up getting older and older, and their health stays the same or even gets a little worse.
This is a significant part of life insurance. If you get your policy and get healthier, you can retest and improve your rating and lower your premiums. However, if your health worsens, you are still locked in and guaranteed your existing rating.
So our suggestion is always the same when we hear the question, What should I do from here? That would be to take 10 minutes and talk to an Aultium Insurance agent about your situation. There is no obligation, and there would be zero commitment. You can also check out our page here on Where do I start?