Marijuana Use and Buying Life Insurance in Canada

November 21st, 2011 | Author: Mitch Reynolds

Can You Buy Life Insurance If You Smoke Marijuana?

Smoker premiums for marijuana users when buying life insurance

Marijuana - Life Insurance Canada If you are one of the many Canadians who occasionally smokes marijuana and you are looking to buy life insurance you might be worried. Will you be able to buy life insurance if you smoking marijuana? Should you tell the life insurance broker who is taking the application? Will the insurance company decline your application or charge you extra premiums because you smoke marijuana?

These are all common questions people who use marijuana would ask themselves when buying life insurance. In this article I will explain what to expect when going through the application process and declaring to your life insurance broker and the insurance company that you in fact do smoke marijuana.

Occasional Marijuana User

If you have “occasionally” used marijuana in the last year then you can expect the life insurance company to charge you standard smoker rates for life insurance. So, if you were using our instant life insurance quote system you would click “yes” to being a smoker and under marijuana click “last 12 months”. This will give you a smoker rate for your life insurance quote.

Assuming there are no other health risks or occupational risks, the life insurance company will charge you the same premium as if you were a cigarette smoker. Good news if you are a smoker (cigarettes or other nicotine products) your premium will be exactly the same as you would already be paying, regardless of whether or not you smoked marijuana. Unfortunately, if you are otherwise a non-smoker, you will be forced to pay higher premiums as if you were a smoker. All life insurance companies are the same – all will charge smoker rates for marijuana use.

Habitual Marijuana User

If you use marijuana daily or more than once per day you would be considered a habitual marijuana user, and then getting life insurance would be more difficult. Most life insurance companies would charge an extra premium (a rating) for coverage or might decline the policy altogether. If you are rated, the price would be an extra percentage over and above the standard smoker premiums (i.e. 100% extra would be double the standard smoker rate for life insurance).

What if you are a medical marijuana user? If your doctor has prescribed you marijuana to help control an underlying condition, like MS, ALS, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, or a host of other conditions, then the life insurance company is going to be very concerned with your medical condition requiring prescribed marijuana. You might not be rated extra premium (other than paying smoker rates) for regular marijuana use, but you probably will be charge extra premiums for your underlying medical condition or could even be denied life insurance coverage.

Declaring illegal use of marijuana to your life insurance broker

This is a major concern for people who are using marijuana illegally. Should you tell your life insurance agent that you smoke marijuana? Could you get in trouble? The answer is NO. Your life insurance broker is bound by law to act in your best interests and keep your personal and medical information private. They can divulge the information on the application only to the life insurance company that you applied to. They are also required to keep confidential office records and should never keep a copy of your medical information in their office files.

The life insurance company also keeps your information private. They will not hand over your personal or medical information to any government authority without a court order to do so (and then you’re already in a world of trouble). So be assured that when telling your life insurance broker this information in private that it will go no further than the underwriter’s desk at the life insurance company.

So, if your life insurance broker is a police officer selling insurance part-time, he/she would not be able to use any information taken on the application against you, as they could not breach confidentiality to a client to do their job as a police officer.

Get a confidential assessment of your life insurance need

At Life Guard Insurance we have been able to secure life insurance coverage for many Canadians who occasionally use marijuana. Please contact us for a confidential assessment of your life insurance needs, and don’t worry too much about marijuana use.

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