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Article: Insurers are reclassifying definition of 'smoking.' (Product Trends)
- Article from:
- National Underwriter Life & Health-Financial Services Edition
- Article date:
- September 21, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Summit Business Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A growing number of insurers are responding to the changing definition of smoking--which has evolved, at many companies, to include all forms of tobacco--by developing preferred underwriting classification tables that recognize the different levels of risk associated with tobacco consumption.
"Equity demands that you place people in the proper category" and price premium rates accordingly, said Donald Britton, executive vice president of First Colony Life, "No matter how it is consumed, tobacco does [physical] damage."
Indeed, the industry is gravitating toward requiring that individuals not consume tobacco of any kind in order to qualify for preferred ...