Impact of Drinking Alcohol on Health Insurance Premiums

Is Health Insurance Offered to People Drinking Alcohol?

Yes. People can buy a health insurance policy even if they consume alcohol regularly. As opposed to popular beliefs, insurance companies in India offer health insurance to people who drink alcohol. They do not reject your proposal application just because you consume alcohol. However, they may ask you to undergo a test to check whether you are a heavy drinker.

When it comes to claims, health insurance companies cannot reject your claim even if you had consumed alcohol moderately before getting hospitalized. However, if you are addicted to alcohol or are a heavy drinker, then any claim raised for an illness or injuries arising out of alcohol consumption will not be covered under your policy. This is a common health insurance alcohol exclusion.

How Does Drinking Alcohol Impact Your Health Insurance Premiums?

Although drinking alcohol does not stop you from buying a health insurance policy, it does impact your premium adversely. Your health insurance premiums will increase if you consume alcohol. This is because regular alcohol consumption, especially in large quantities, increases the risk of several diseases, such as liver failure, high blood pressure, stroke, breast & oral cancer, pancreatitis, etc. Moreover, alcohol consumption is also known to cause memory loss, damage mental health and reduce fertility.

On the other hand, health insurance companies reward policyholders for good lifestyle habits. They seek lesser premiums from people who are healthy and lead a healthy lifestyle. Since alcohol consumption leads to severe health problems and increases the liability of the insurance company, they charge you a higher premium. Doing so also motivates people to leave unhealthy habits and live healthy life.

How to Reduce Your Health Insurance Premiums?

If you consume alcohol, you will be required to pay a higher health insurance premium. But there are other ways through which you can reduce the cost of your health insurance policy. Take a look at them below:

1. Buy Health Insurance at an Early Age

If you want to reduce your health insurance premium, you must buy a health insurance policy at an early age. By doing so, you will be able to keep your premiums low even though you consume alcohol. This happens because you have lower chances of suffering from a disease or medical condition in your younger days and thus, you will be charged a lower premium.

2. Go for Family Floater Plans

If you want to buy health insurance for your family, you can go for a family floater policy instead of an individual policy for each family member. This will help you in lowering your health insurance costs as family floater plans are more affordable than individual plans. Thus, alcohol consumers will have to pay a lower premium for a family health insurance plan.  

3. Opt for Higher Voluntary Deductibles

Another way to reduce your health insurance premium even though you drink alcohol is by opting for higher voluntary deductibles. When you opt for deductibles, you are required to pay a part of the claim amount during claim settlement. This reduces the liability of the insurance company and hence, they offer a lower premium.

The higher is the voluntary deductible, the lower will be the premium. Just make sure to go for a voluntary deductible that you can afford to pay at the time of claim settlement.

4. Avoid Unnecessary Add-ons

If you consume alcohol and want to keep your health insurance premium low, you must avoid adding unnecessary add-ons to your policy. This is because add-on covers are available for an extra premium price and so opting for add-ons that you don’t need will only increase your premium. Therefore, opt only for those add-on covers that you really need under your health insurance policy.

5. Compare Health Insurance Plans

One of the best ways to buy health insurance at a lower premium is by comparing various health plans online. When you will compare health insurance plans for alcohol consumers, you will be able to find the policy which offers the required coverage at an affordable cost. You can easily compare different health insurance plans online on Policybazaar.com based on their coverage, premium, benefits, etc.

Summing It Up

People who consume alcohol attract a higher health insurance premium as they pose a higher liability to the insurance company. But if you want to save on your premiums as much as possible, make sure to follow the above-mentioned tips to reduce your health insurance costs.