In the past, when a smoker made the decision to obtain life insurance benefits after quitting smoking, they may have had to quit smoking and have been smoke free for a period of at least five years prior to being eligible for any life insurance company’s preferred non-smoker rates. Fortunately, the number of years before a person may be eligible for these preferred rates has dropped to 36 months in some cases. Although not all companies may have dropped their time frame, the companies that have may be major names in the life insurance arena.

Anyone who gave up smoking at least 36 or 48 months ago could be eligible to apply for a policy that offers a preferred plus rate with some life insurance companies to receive benefits after quitting smoking.  Go here to learn more about life insurance for smokers.

There are some individuals who have been tobacco free for five years. In these cases, many life insurance carriers could be willing to offer these individuals their preferred non-smoker rates. They may just need to have to be healthy in many other aspects.

Some life insurance carriers may include those who smoke tobacco (but not cigarettes) in their smoker premium rates, such as people who smoke cigars, pipes, and chewing tobacco users.  To learn more about life insurance for cigar smokers, please check out the article “Occasional Cigar Smoking and Life Insurance.”

Some life insurance companies may allow a person who is seeking benefits after quitting smoking eligibility for their preferred premium rates, after they have quit smoking for at least one complete year. However, other life insurance carriers may still enforce a firm five-year termination from tobacco smoking in advance to offering the preferred rates that their company has. Others have time periods in between those two, so it may be worth it to shop around.