For purposes of life insurance testing, how long is nicotine detectable in the system?

Question

I have a friend who just quite smoking and he wants to know how long he should wait before he goes to get life insurance (to get the physical exam). He would like to wait until there is no more (detectable) nicotine in his system. How long should he wait to get underwriting?

Answer 1

It will have to be a year, at least.

Answer 2

Maybe You should try to google it first ,nonetheless, if you prefer some direct resource ,here might be helpful.http://lifeinsurance.online-helpers.info...

Answer 3

It's typically all out within 24-48 hours. But if your friend starts smoking again and his insurance carrier finds out, they'll up his rates, drop him completely, or charge him with fraud for lying on his application.

Answer 4

In addition to the urine test, the life insurance application will have a question such as "Have you used tobacco or nicotine products in the last 12 months?"

If you friend answers "No," he has committed fraud.  If the insurance company finds out, they won't pay the claim and will just refund the premiums he paid in.  That defeats the purpose of having life insurance.

Tell your friend to be honest in his dealings with insurance companies and other businesses.

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Answer 5

Well there are several almost right answers already here, but here's the deal.  Once you have life insurance a company can not cancel you, even if you said you had not smoked, and some how, although very difficult to prove, you did.  They can not return the premium and not pay the death benefit, although they can charge back premiums at the tabacco rate and deduct that amount from the pay out.  Although once the policy has been in force for two years, nothing can be adjusted.  And once a company issues a policy they can not change your rates or cancel you, regardless of if you start smoking, get cancer, etc.  It's best to wait at leaste three weeks after quitting to get tested, however, if they are just doing a mouth swab test a week should be good.

Answer 6

He should apply now as a smoker, and then 12 months from his last cigarette, re-apply for non-smoker rates.  This will keep him from s******g his family over what might seem like an "innocent lie."

No doubt, he is applying for life insurance because he doesn't know when he will die.  If he did, he might not need the insurance.  

If he applies as a non-smoker and dies during the contestability period (2 years in most states), the company might deny the death claim if they find out he made a material misrepresentation on the application.

If he smoked a pipe or cigar instead, there are companies that offer non-smoker rates.

Answer 7

about a year or so

Answer 8

It is possible for smokers to "cheat" the system, because nicotine clears out of your system within 72 hours after smoking your last cigarette. Cotinine is the primary metabolite of nicotine, and the most common identifier of nicotine levels. If the urine test is given 72 hours after your last cigarette, the nicotine level may be low enough to escape detection. This is theoretically possible for even the heaviest of smokers.

Answer 9

The actual enzyme that is detected (by a blood test) that reveals the prescence of nicotine in the system is called cotinine and is detectable for between 7-10 days after the tobacco product was smoked.

The person makes a good point above in that the life insurance company will deny the claim if he is a smoker anyway so he would be paying non-smoker rates for nothing.

Additionally, tell your friend to have an ounce of personal integrity and refrain from cheating the company or more importantly, the policy holders like you and I whose premium rates are based on not having people defraud the insurer we deal with.