Effect of BMI on Term Insurance

Health plays a crucial role in the calculation of your insurance premiums. It's a no-brainer that healthier individuals are less likely to fall ill or develop chronic illnesses that can shorten their lifespan. Hence, your lifestyle, occupation, prior illnesses, and family history all have a direct correlation to your insurance premiums. In fact, your insurer is likely to request a complete medical examination for you so they can evaluate your current health status. This is applicable to your BMI as well. But what exactly is BMI?

What is BMI?

BMI is short for Body Mass Index. It is a formula that determines a person’s weight relative to his/her height to ascertain whether the person is healthy at a broad level. A good BMI indicator considers the person’s gender, age, height, and weight to determine their body mass index. A normal BMI score tends to lie anywhere between 18.5 and 24.9, indicating that a person’s weight is proportionate to his/her height.²

To calculate BMI, your body weight is divided by the square of your height. Online BMI calculators will do this for your automatically. One’s body’s mass can therefore be determined by how high the BMI comes out to be. One can use a BMI chart top categorize a person into any one of the following classifications¹:

• If BMI falls between 18.5 and 24.9, it is considered as normal or healthy weight
• If BMI is lower than 18.5, it is considered as underweight
• If BMI is higher than 25 to 29.9 it is considered as overweight
• If BMI is higher than 30, it is considered as obese.

Now that we understand the basics of BMI, what is the relationship between BMI and term insurance plans?

Effect of BMI on Term Insurance Premium-

All insurers assess how high your term insurance plan’s premiums will be based on your BMI. If your BMI falls within the normal range, your premium will remain same and not be increased, provided you qualify as healthy in other domains as well. Assuming your BMI comes out to be in the overweight category, your insurer might issue your policy at a higher premium than what you would get at a normal BMI.

Should you buy a Term Insurance Plan if your BMI is high?

Regardless of your BMI, you should assess how much a term plan can benefit your portfolio and the security of your loved ones when deciding whether or not to buy it.

For those with higher than or lower than standard/normal range of BMI scores, while your premiums might be high, your loved ones will be financially protected through a term plan in the unfortunate case of your loss Hence, there are multiple benefits of choosing term insurance plans when planning to secure the financial future of your loved ones.

Conclusion

Term insurance is one of the preferred ways to safeguard the finances of your loved ones in your absence. While your BMI can affect the premiums that are offered to you when you purchase a term plan, consider all the pros and cons of going for term insurance before you decide about adding it to your portfolio.

Source:

¹https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/index.html#:~:text=Body%20mass%20index%20(BMI)%20is,square%20of%20height%20in%20meters.

²https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/what-is-the-body-mass-index-bmi/

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