Marijuana Life Insurance (No Need to Lie to Get the Best Rates)

A recent survey commissioned by Forbes found that 56% of people would lie about their marijuana use to avoid paying higher life insurance rates!

You don’t need to lie in 2022 because at RiskQuoter, we have 17 life insurance companies that don’t care if you use marijuana.

In fact, underwriters only care about how much marijuana you use.

Whether you smoke pot, use edibles, pills, oils, tinctures, etc., non-smoker life insurance rates are available.

That goes for medicinal or recreational marijuana use.

Does Medical Marijuana Use Affect Life Insurance?

As of this writing, 37 states, 4 territories, and Washington D.C. have legalized medical marijuana use.^[1]

Most life insurance companies recognize this and will underwrite your application based on the medical condition you have.

Medical marijuana use does not affect life insurance, your underlying health condition does.

But don’t take our word for it, here’s what Prudential says about medicinal marijuana.

When prescribed by, or taken under the direction of, a physician, any rating assessed will generally be based on the underlying condition, not the actual use of the medicinal marijuana.

Rx for Success – Marijuana – Prudential 08/2021

A positive THC level for medical marijuana use is acceptable with life insurance companies.

The only time medical marijuana becomes a problem is when it is not admitted on the application.

How does medical marijuana underwriting work?

When you complete your application, it will ask you about your prescriptions and medical conditions.

If you have a medical marijuana card, indicate that with your application.

Life insurers may ask for a copy of your marijuana card or request the medical records related to the prescription, but other than that the underwriter will base your price on whatever medical condition you have.

What happens when you don’t disclose your medical marijuana prescription?

Like most prescription drugs these days, insurance companies have access to prescription databases and may learn of your prescription if not admitted on the application.

You may end up getting declined before you even get the chance to explain your situation.

Chances are that you will be caught from either a positive THC lab result, notes in your physician’s medical records, or information contained in prescription databases.

There’s no need to hide medical marijuana use as it has no impact on your application.

Does Recreational Marijuana Use Affect Life Insurance?

Marijuana use is gaining in popularity, with an estimated 48.2 million users ^[2] in the United States. Seventeen states plus Washington D.C. and Guam have legalized recreational marijuana use.^[3]

Recreational marijuana use has little effect on most life insurance applicants if you follow these 3 rules:

1. Tell us how often you use marijuana.
2. Answer “yes” on the life insurance application that you use marijuana.
3. Stop using marijuana long enough to provide a negative lab sample.

As of today, we have 17 life insurance companies available that will give you non-tobacco life insurance rates if you use recreational marijuana. It doesn’t matter if you smoke pot or use edibles, the same rules apply.

If you do the above, we’ll make sure you get the best non-tobacco life insurance rate available.

How Often Do You Get High?

Life insurance companies determine your rate based on how often you use recreational marijuana…the more often you use the more expensive it gets.

Occasional Recreational Marijuana Use

Occasional marijuana users qualify for the best life insurance rates with the right life insurance companies.

It’s no big deal from a life insurance standpoint as long as you admit the occasional use on your application and make sure that your lab results are negative for THC.

Monthly Recreational Marijuana Users

If you use marijuana on a monthly basis, the best life insurance rates may still be available with some life insurers.

In fact, you can use marijuana up to 8x per month and still qualify for a preferred plus rate with one company.

Weekly Recreational Marijuana Users

If you use marijuana every week, just remember that you’ll need to stop long enough to provide negative lab results.

As long as you can do that, preferred and possibly preferred best life insurance rates are still available.

Daily Recreational Marijuana Users

Here’s the deal. If you truly use recreational marijuana every single day of the month, many companies will decline you.

If you don’t use marijuana every single day, then you are not a daily marijuana user, right?

The underwriting rules become more involved, companies will ask for a full drug history questionnaire and most offers you receive will include a table rating that adds 50-100% to a standard rate.

Only one company allows positive THC lab results for their non-smoker rate, the rest require a negative lab result for non-smoker rates.

How close to daily use can you be?

Here are some excerpts from marijuana life insurance underwriting guides:

• More than 8x per month but less than daily = standard plus rate – negative labs
• Daily – Table B-D assuming no social or occupational impairment – negative labs
• Daily – Standard Non-Tobacco rates as long as you are age 31 or older – negative labs
• Up to 20x per month – Table 4 rate. 21x per month is a decline – negative labs
• 16x per month – Table 2 rate. 17x per month is a decline – negative labs
• Up to 6x per week – Table D. 7x per week is a decline – negative labs
• 6x per week – Table B. 7x per week is a decline – positive labs are ok

We’ll let you know exactly what to expect with each life insurance company’s quotes.

How Long Does Marijuana Stay in Your System

First things first…the following information is based on estimates as many factors may determine how long marijuana stays in your system. It’s up to you to make sure you lab results are negative.

For life insurance, most companies use urine tests to detect Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in your sample. The duration of time that THC remains in your system may vary based on:

• Frequency of marijuana use
• Concentration levels of THC in marijuana you use
• Your body weight and fat – THC is stored in fat
• How you consumer marijuana – smoke vs edibles, etc.

Approximate timeframes for marijuana in your system:

• Single use – may stay in your system for 3-4 days
• 4x per week – 5-7days
• Daily use – 10-15 days
• Chronic heavy use – 30+ days

Hair tests for marijuana may detect marijuana for 90 days +/- and it may even detect THC from second hand marijuana smoke.

Blood tests show THC for 3-4 hours and saliva tests may show THC for 24 hours.

Make sure you give yourself enough time to provide a negative sample for the life insurers that require it.

What Happens When You Lie About Marijuana?

There may be serious consequences for the applicant and/or beneficiaries claiming life insurance proceeds.

First off, there’s no need to lie because we’re going to put together affordable options for you at rates that rival the rates paid by people who don’t use marijuana.

But if you really want to know the potential consequences here they are:

Contestable Life Insurance Policy – Most states give life insurance companies a 2-year window to contest a life insurance policy if it contains false statements or material representations.

When someone lies on a life insurance application, many states consider it to be a crime and your policy may be contested.

If you die during the contestability period, the life insurance company is going to investigate before paying the claim…and even if marijuana had nothing to do with your death, your beneficiaries may be in for a fight.

Insurance Fraud – It’s a crime if you intentionally submit material misrepresentations, conceal material facts or try to defraud an insurance company.

You can be subjected to fines and confinement in state prison for committing insurance fraud.

The bottom line is to be truthful with your application because we’re going to help you get a great rate.

What Happens if You Don’t Admit Marijuana Use?

Whether it’s for medical use or recreational, if you don’t admit marijuana use on your life insurance application, life insurers will decline you when they receive the lab results showing positive for THC.

If you have a medical marijuana card, we may be able to get the insurance company to reopen your file.

For recreational users, we’ll need to apply with a new life insurance company and you need to admit marijuana use.

Keep in mind that if your application has been declined, the Medical Information Bureau is going to have records of your prior application history in their files.

Life Insurance for Marijuana Industry Workers

If you work in the marijuana industry, you may find that it is very difficult to obtain life insurance.

In fact most life insurers will not provide coverage to you if you work in the cannabis industry.

That includes jobs such as:

• Owners of gorwing facilities and retail stores
• Cultivation, growing, marijuana trimming occupations
• Lab workers, chemists, extraction workers
• Retail workers, managers, warehouse employees

Essentially any job that is connected to the marijuana industry may be difficult to gain coverage, until now.

The big reason why life insurance for marijuana industry workers is difficult is due to Federal laws that still consider marijuana to be an illegal subtance.

The result is that banks and insurance companies are restricted from working with monery derived from the marijuana industry. The good news is that legislation is slowing making its way through the House and Senate that may loosen these restrictions.

For now though, here is what we have available for you.

Accidental death insurance – while this is not as good as a traditional life insurance policy since it only covers accidental death, we have a company that will provide you with up to 10x your annual income.

For marijuana business owners, we have a company that will offer life insurance for key person, buy-sell and business loan agreements. We have the ability to obtain a 2 year term life insurance policy with a maximum death benefit of $25 million!

As legislation evolves and acceptance improves we expect that additional companies will become available to you.

Conclusion

Getting life insurance if you use marijuana should not be a problem if you follow our underwriting advice.

Please take a few minutes to get a life insurance quote today. Thank you.

References

[1] National Conference of State Legislatures – https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-medical-marijuana-laws.aspx – reviewed 5-7-2022

[2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/index.htm – reviewed 5-7-2022

[3] U.S. News & World Report – https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/where-is-marijuana-legal-a-guide-to-marijuana-legalization – reviewed 5-7-2022