Does My BMI Affect My Term Life Insurance Rates?

BMI is such a widespread metric for evaluating a person’s weight that it is used by almost every major life insurance company as part of the process of setting term life insurance rates for their clients.

Why does BMI matter for life insurance?

Your BMI tells the life insurance underwriter if you maintain a healthy weight or not. According to the CDC, the correlation between a high BMI and the likelihood of developing dangerous health conditions is strong.

People who are obese are at increased risk for many diseases and health conditions, including the following:

These conditions affect quality of life, morbidity, and mortality, which is why life insurance companies may place you in a higher risk class, and therefore pay higher rates, if you’re carrying too many extra pounds.

However, just because the CDC says you’re overweight, doesn’t mean life insurance companies will. Each life insurance company has what is called a Build Chart that they follow when underwriting an applicant. These charts are created based off BMI numbers but are not solely reliant upon them.

Below is an example of one company’s life insurance build chart. It shows you the height and weight requirements to receive certain risk classes.

For example, if you are 5 feet 7 inches and weigh 185 pounds or less, you could qualify for the best risk class, Preferred Plus. However, according to the CDC BMI calculator, being 5’7” and 185 pounds gives you a BMI of 29 which means you’re overweight. Life insurance companies are a little more accepting than the CDC.

BMI isn’t a perfect system. In life insurance, it’s only used to give a rough idea of an average person’s body type. If you’re taller or shorter than average, for example, or if you’re extremely athletic with a low percentage of body fat, BMI doesn’t always provide an accurate measurement. This is because the equation only compares you against the average and can’t give you a full picture of your health.

Your current health history, not just height and weight, is also used to determine the cost of your life insurance policy.

This means that if you’ve recently lost a lot of weight, insurance companies will note all of the progress you’ve made but will also be on the lookout to see if there’s a possibility that you could gain all of that weight back.

This protects insurers against people who would try to use extreme dieting to try and slip under a weight guideline right before applying for life insurance. Insurers want to be confident that you’ll keep the weight off before they offer to insure you.

» Learn more: Can I Get Life Insurance After Weight-Loss Surgery?