• Sweden edition

Smokers face higher insurance costs

Published: 30 May 09 15:03 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/19760/20090530/

“Our aim is not to make more money; the added proceeds will be used to cover non-smokers, who will be paying lower premiums in the long term,” write Skandia Norden CEO Bertil Hult, Per Täckenström, medical risk assessor at Skandia Liv, and medical insurance advisor Dr Gundars Rasmanis in an article in Dagens Nyheter.

The authors add that those affected by the rise will also be offered help to quit smoking.

“The additional premium charge is intended to draw attention to the dangers of smoking and Skandia hopes it will contribute to a reduction in the number of smokers in Sweden,” the article continues.

The increase, of between 25 and 50 percent, will apply to all new policies, including health insurance, individual accident coverage, and life, premium-free and private care insurance.

According to the article, a person who has abstained from smoking for twelve months will no longer be required to pay the extra charge since the risk to the community as a whole will have been substantially reduced.

Stuart Sheild (news@thelocal.se/08-6566518)

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11:30 May 31, 2009 by tewodros
Good news !
11:43 May 31, 2009 by LazyDog
I would like to stop smoking. But as long as there's a bunch off nutters around giving me grief i'm sorry to say i will have to pay. Would cost me more if stopped smoking i guess.
13:47 May 31, 2009 by Nemesis
This is a great move.

Everywhere I go I see people smoking. They are killing themselves.
16:13 May 31, 2009 by Miss Kitten
The higher insurance premiums for smokers may be enough to motivate some of them to quit, but I doubt if it will have much of an impact. Yeah, it's true that they are "killing themselves," but that's their choice. Living in a free society means we have the freedom to do things (such as smoking) that we know are dangerous and bad for us. Smokers know it's bad for them. You might not like it but it's the price we pay for living in a free society. It means that we might encounter people engaging in activities and behaviors that we find objectionable. Unfortunately our objections to these behaviors are not more important than the rights of the people engaging in the behavior.
19:30 May 31, 2009 by bocale1
Miss Kitten, I agree with you even if I think that is also questionable the definition of "dangerous habit" (it would be nice, for example, to understand why smokers are seen as more guilty than people drinking alcohol; or even why certain substances are even illegal, like marijuana, and alcohol is totally free despite the number of victims it does every year!). Anyhow, everybody should be free to do what he/she wants but the rest of the society should not pay that price. So, I believe that the Skandia move is correct and should also be extended to other taxes (all in all, statistically speaking, we know that heavy smokers and drinkers have more health risks and diseases than the rest of the people, why they should not pay more welfare taxes than the rest do?)
22:37 October 21, 2010 by davebrown74
If you need insurance information about insurance life, then you should check out http://www.life.realinsurance.com.au/Life-Insurance.aspx.

You can find information about other types of insurance while you're there.
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