Why do health insurers ask if you smoke in their application? How do they know if you are telling the truth?

Question

Why do health insurers ask if you smoke in their application? How do they know if you are telling the truth?

Answer 1

i dont think so. and i think they could tell from the smell, and maybe teeth.

Answer 2

Smoking causes a variety of health issues, so although the insurance co may not find out immediately that you do smoke if you lie on the application, they will find out eventually when a health problem arises and when that happens they will drop your insurance.  Also, lying on such an application is considered fraud and if they find out about any past medical issues they covered could also be due to smoking you could be responsible for paying those claims back to the insurance co.

Answer 3

If you smoke, then statistically you are more likely to use the coverage, because there is more of a health risk associated with smoking.  So your premium is higher.  If the insurer does an oral swab (where you have to stick the little q-tip thing in your mouth) at the time of application, then tobacco use can show up on that.  I've had some life insurance applicants who didn't think we'd find their tobacco use, but it was caught by the swab test.