Does Vaping Affect Life Insurance? The Answer Is Yes

When it comes to life insurance, it doesn’t matter whether you use e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, nicotine strips or nicotine gum, insurance companies still see one key factor: Nicotine consumption.

Nicotine consumption, regardless if through tobacco or smoke-free alternatives, can drastically change how your policy is classified and how much you pay.

Life Insurance: Why Vaping and Smoking Fall into the Same Category

Life insurers assess risk based on long-term health outcomes, and, because insurers are still uncertain about the future health outcomes when it comes to vaping, even smoke-free users are seen as a higher risk to insure.

The main reason for this is nicotine. Many major life insurance providers group vapers and smokers together when determining premiums, even though they're drastically different. This grouping applies to all forms of nicotine use, including e-cigarettes, cigarettes, and others. That means if you vape, you’ll likely be categorised as a “smoker”, even if you’ve not touched a cigarette in years.

How Insurers Know You Vape

When you apply for life insurance, you’ll answer questions about your lifestyle and medical history, which includes your history of nicotine use. Many insurance companies ask specifically about nicotine replacement products, such as nicotine gum, patches, and vaping, as use of these can affect your smoker status.

Although it may be tempting to omit the information that you vape, it’s always best to be open and honest, because nicotine can be detected through blood and urine testing.

These tests look for cotinine, a chemical your body produces after processing nicotine. It stays detectable in the bloodstream for up to a week after use, and in hair samples for even longer. If you’ve consumed nicotine, whether by smoking, vaping, or using nicotine replacement products like gum or patches, it will show up.

In short: Honesty really matters here. Ultimately, it’s better to disclose your vaping habit up front than risk invalidating your coverage later.

How Vaping Affects Life Insurance Premiums

Insurance companies rely on the details you provide to assess your risk and determine your life insurance premium. If you use cigarettes, e-cigarettes, oral nicotine, nicotine patches, or really any other type of nicotine product, it’s important to disclose every form of nicotine use on your life insurance application. This ensures you receive the right cover and that your life insurance policy will pay out as expected, providing crucial financial protection.

Most insurance companies offer competitive life insurance premiums for vapers, so it’s worth comparing quotes to find the right cover for your personal circumstances.

If you currently vape, you’re not automatically disqualified from getting life insurance, but you will likely pay higher premiums.

Some insurers specialise in coverage for nicotine users, and a few even offer “vaper-friendly” policies that consider reduced-risk factors compared to traditional smoking. However, if you have stopped vaping since taking out your insurance policy, your premiums will not automatically change; you must notify your insurer to alert them to a change in circumstances.

Is It Cheaper to Go Cold Turkey?

By now, we all know the reasons to stop smoking. The NHS cites stopping smoking as an effective way to reduce your risk of lung cancer, heart attack, and other critical illness. Yet it’s not always easy to stop smoking at the drop of a hat.

Going cold turkey has a particularly low success rate for quitting smoking long-term, with some studies showing success rates as low as 4-7% due to the body’s dependence on nicotine. With such a low probability of success, it’s unsurprising to discover that almost 3 million Brits have successfully used vaping as a tool to stop smoking in the last five years alone.

So, although it’s possible that going cold turkey and eliminating nicotine altogether may help to cut the costs of insurance premiums, it’s by no means the most effective method of stopping smoking.

Another thing to keep in mind is that vaping can be considerably cheaper than smoking. Data estimates that the average smoker spends upwards of £4,841 per year on cigarettes, a cost that can be significantly reduced by switching to vaping.

For an in-depth price comparison of smoking vs. vaping, check out our guide: Is Vaping Cheaper Than Smoking? A Cost Comparison.

For many ex-smokers, the money saved from making the switch can help to offset any increase in insurance premiums associated with continued cigarette consumption.

Cutting Costs with FREESMO

At FREESMO, affordability and accessibility go hand in hand. Recognising that cost can be one of the biggest barriers for smokers looking to make the switch, FREESMO boasts competitive pricing designed to make stopping smoking achievable for everyone.

From best-selling vape kits to premium oral nicotine products, FREESMO’s product range is carefully priced to help consumers save money compared to the ongoing expense of traditional cigarettes.

This commitment to value means that, although ex-smokers may still face slightly higher insurance premiums, they’ll recoup significant savings through affordable alternatives to tobacco products.