Life insurance for alcoholics

Alcoholism became a serious problem as alcohol consumption is growing fast. According to World Health Organization there are more than 140 millions of alcoholics in the world and the National Health Service reports that 1 of every 13 citizens in United Kingdom are alcoholics or abuse the usage of alcoholic drinks. What is more, research led by scientist in Canada revealed that alcohol was the number one reason of deaths for a very long time. It was concluded that alcoholism accounts for 6.3 percent of all deaths by men and 1.8 percent of all deaths by women every year. As a result, insurance companies now offer life insurance cover for people who have problems with alcohol.

Defining an alcoholism

To begin with, it is important to define what is alcoholism and alcohol abuse. Alcoholism is a chronic long-term disease when a body is dependent on alcohol. An alcoholic cannot control how much alcohol he consumes and usually it causes serious problems at work and home. 4 factors are used to describe an alcoholic: craving, loss of control, physical dependence and body tolerance to the alcohol. Alcohol abuse is used to define a situation when a person drinks more than the maximum recommended amount of alcohol. People that abuse alcohol are less dependent on alcohol than alcoholics are.
A person usually will be asked two question related to alcohol. How often he drinks and whether he ever was convicted because of DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol). Records for DUI stay on a driving license for all the remaining life of the person. However, after some time they become spent which means that if after a certain period of time a person is asked by an insurance broker whether he had any DUIs in the past he can lawfully answer negatively. The time after which a DUI becomes spent depends on the severity of the crime and is impose by a court order.

What is the insurance providers’ view to an alcoholism

Many life insurance companies regard alcoholism as an illness. The maximum recommended amount of alcohol units per week is 21 for men and 14 for women. However, insurance companies usually do not require a medical check up only from people that intake up to 40 units of alcohol per week. A unit of alcohol is equivalent to 1/2pint of beer or 1 glass of wine. People who use alcohol more often will be asked to visit a general pediatrician to provide the insurance company with more details about his alcohol consumption problems.

Medical reports

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The Medical Report from GP contains information about history, medical records, treatment, occasional drinking, family and employment. History section reveals what happened in the past and any extenuating circumstances. Medical record will include all the illnesses that were caused by alcohol. The most often ailment is the cirrhosis of liver. Treatment section includes all the medical help and assistance and if the person is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Occasional drinking section provides details about the average amount of units that the person consumes in a given period of time. The family section will include the dependents and marital status. Although UK life insurance companies usually do not contact the employer the employment section has to provide detailed information about how alcohol affected the employment of the person, current workplace and the responsibilities at work.

Getting life insurance

Unfortunately, confirmed alcoholics that are still drinking are unlikely to be given a life insurance cover. On the other hand, if a person is now a recovering alcoholic with a considerable abstinence period, he may hope to get a good life insurance quote. Usually a year or two is believed to be a considerable amount of time for a person to get a life insurance cover at an average price. However, this is only possible if the alcohol did not cause serious health issues to the person. Furthermore, relapsing after impatient rehabilitation can be viewed as an aggravating factor to get a life insurance.
It is not advisable to hide the truth about the alcohol consumption although a lot of people have temptation to do so. Unlike in the case of heart attack or other medical problems, in most cases there are not documents that can prove the true consumption of alcohol. However, this way there is a huge likelihood that the policy will be canceled and the dependents will be left with no money after the death of the insured person. Although it is not easy to check if the client is not lying before initiating the policy, it is very simple to do that after his death. Blood alcohol content and the condition of liver can be checked by a doctor in no time.

A better thing than lying is to provide factors of health and lifestyle that can offset the negative effects of alcohol abuse. These factors include a regular attendance to Alcoholics Anonymous, successful completion of impatient rehabilitation program, clean driving license, normal condition of liver and consistent marriage. Another advice is to quit or considerably reduce drinking. Those people that choose this option will have to prove the insurance company that this decision led to a significant improvement in health. A medical report from a doctor is an acceptable way to provide that. Those people who are recovering alcoholics are advised to seek for those life insurance companies that offer quotes with a fixed reduction in the cost of the premiums for each successful year without a relapse.