Your life insurer is counting your drinks

By Insure.com

How much drinking is too much when it comes to buying life insurance? Heavy alcohol use impacts your life expectancy, so insurers want to know distinguish between the person who has a glass of wine with dinner and the person who drinks the whole bottle.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), excessive alcohol use over the long term can lead to a variety of chronic conditions and neurological problems such as cardiovascular problems, dementia, stroke, depression, liver disease and gastrointestinal problems.

Insurers will ask you about your alcohol use on your life insurance application. Anything more than social drinking will affect your life insurance rate. Drinking more than two drinks a day will generally knock you out of "preferred" rates, and drinking more than three or four drinks will knock you out of "standard" rates, according to Kevin Coughlin, brokerage sales consultant at Target Insurance Services, which helps other agents find life insurance for buyers with medical problems and other high-risk factors.

Then you're looking at "rated" policies, meaning an additional premium is added because of a risk factor. For an explanation of classifications, see "How life insurers view you: Underwriting categories" on Insure.com.

Also, if excessive alcohol use is noted in your medical records by your physician, you're facing high rates or application denials.

Ultimately, life insurance underwriters are going to be looking at the results of your liver function test, which they run on the blood sample taken at your life insurance medical exam. The liver function test, known as GGT, measures "irritation" of the liver. You will have elevated liver function if you're a heavy drinker, but likely not if you drink in moderation.

But an elevated liver enzyme level doesn't spell doom for your application; it can also suggest there is something wrong with your health that isn't related to drinking, or it may even be caused by taking Ibuprofen. An insurer may postpone a decision on your application or run a further test called an "alcohol marker."

"If they run an alchohol marker and it shows the cause as alcohol, they will decline your application," says Coughlin.

You could have bad liver function not related to drinking, as shown by a negative alcohol marker test, and still garner "standard" rates, says Coughlin.

DUIs make matters worse

A recent drunk driving conviction will result in higher life insurance premiums — even if your arrest was an isolated incident. Drunken driving convictions are another red flag for alcohol use.

The further away you are from your DUI conviction, the better your life insurance picture will look. Coughlin observes that for the first two years after a DUI you can't expect anything better than a pricey "rated" policy. After two to three years you can creep up to a "standard" rating, and after five years you can get back into "preferred" rates — assuming your health condition merits it.

If you have multiple moving violations like DUIs combined with alcoholism or drug abuse, you will be deemed "uninsurable."

Recovering alcoholics have an uphill battle

It takes a long time before the life insurance gods smile upon recovering alcoholics. Even if you can show that you've succeeded in an alcohol-treatment program and haven't had a drink in months, you can expect to be declined or have a decision postponed within the first two years of your recovery, according to Coughlin. After that, he says, you can expect a "rated" policy, after five years a "standard" policy, and possibly "preferred" rates again after 10 to 20 years, depending on the insurer.

"Relapse is a huge problem," explains Coughlin.

Updated March 7, 2008