Obesity and Buying Life
Insurance - What You Need to Know
Is obesity
affecting the price you pay for life insurance? Learn more
about build, height and obesity and its impact on life insurance
prices.
Weighing in on the effect of build, height and
obesity on life insurance.
- Fast Facts About Obesity
- Health Risks Associated with being
obese
- Obesity Weighs Heavily in Qualifying for Insurance
- How MEG Financial Can Help
- Related Links for Build – Height/Obesity
and BMI
In 2004, the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) ranked obesity as the number
one health threat facing America. Obesity,
which means too much fat, currently results in an estimated
400,000 deaths. In addition, more than 15 percent of
children under 18 years old are classified as overweight.
Obesity can negatively impact a person’s health,
mental well-being, lifestyle and insurability.
Fast Facts about Obesity
 Body weight in adults typically
remains constant for years even with changes in diet,
climate or activity. Obesity
occurs over time when a person eats more calories than
he or she uses. Maintaining, gaining and losing weight
becomes a balancing act between calories-in and calories-out
and differs for each person. Factors that might tip the
scale toward obesity include overeating, eating high-fat
foods and not being physically active, however, obesity
is not always a behavioral issue. Other causes
such as hormone disorders related to the thyroid, adrenal
glands, ovaries and pituitary that can also contribute
to obesity.
The Body Mass Index (BMI) is
a common measurement in evaluating whether a person is
overweight or obese. It takes a person’s build into
account because it factors weight and height in the equation. Both
terms mean that a person's weight is greater than what's
considered healthy for his or her height.
Computing BMI is a simple computation:
divide a person's weight (in pounds), by their height (in
inches) squared, and multiply by 703. Plug the answer into
the BMI Categories to determine whether the weight is considered
healthy:
- Underweight = BMI (Body Mass Index) less than 18.5
- Normal weight = BMI of 18.5-24.9
- Overweight = BMI of 25-29.9
- Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater
Health Risks Associated with Obesity
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases reports that obesity increases your risk of
diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension, stroke,
arthritis, thyroid disease, polycystic ovary syndrome
and some cancers. Smoking tends to increase these risks
and adds to their complications. If you are obese,
losing even 5 to 10 percent of your weight can delay
or prevent some of these diseases.
More Pounds Equal
More Insurance Risk
The
percentage a person is overweight, or obese, correlates
almost directly to an enhanced risk of premature death
to insurers, so accurate height and weight measurements
must be made available. Insurers are most
concerned about cardiovascular risk factors resulting from obesity so providing
evidence to document good cardiovascular function would include a recent stress
test, family history, regular exercise program, good cholesterol levels and
normal blood pressure readings. Obese and overweight non-smokers or those
who quit smoking will increase the odds of obtaining more reasonably priced
insurance.
 Related
Links for Build, Height, and Obesity
- Life Insurance Quotes
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