Use caution as a former
drug user buying insurance.
Photo by NightlifeofRevelry
Drug use is still a prevalent issue in our society and its a reality underwriters are prepared for. Getting life insurance is harder for those who have used drugs, but it's not impossible.
According to the most recent data (2009) from the Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey, cocaine and crack were the most prevalent drugs used by those 15 years or older in that year after cannabis. Though only 1.2% of Canadians actually partook, compared to the 10.6% that used marijuana, an average of 11% of Canadians have used one of six illicit drugs in the past year, including cannabis, cocaine or crack, speed, ecstasy, hallucinogens (excluding salvia) or heroin. The rate of drug use among women (7.6%) was almost double that number among men (14.7%) and three times higher among youth (27.3%)
Illicit drug use has been on the decline in Canada since 2004, creating a lot of former users and addicts who may find themselves looking for life insurance one day.
As you can probably guess, Life insurance companies do not treat cocaine use or other harsh recreational drug use very favorably. In almost all instances, current cocaine use, or other forms of recreational drugs, such as ecstasy or heroine will result in an automatic decline. It should be noted however that current drug users may be able to qualify for Simplified Issue policies. These policies have no medical tests and often do not have a drug related question.
You can get more details on simplified issue coverage by visited our Non-Medical Life Insurance Quote Page.
We surveyed four insurance companies on how their underwriting guidelines view cocaine, heroine and ecstasy and here is what we found:
Getting Life Insurance as a Hard Illegal Drug User continued ...
