by Fredalynn Mortera Hecita, KUAM NewsWednesday, May 24, 2006
There are a large number of hidden costs associated with smoking - costs that are rarely examined when taking into consideration how much a smoking habit truly costs. If you smoke, you're literally burning money! Smoking just one $3.50 pack per day will cost you $1,260 a year. Besides the obvious expenditures smoking can also cost you thousands annually more in insurance premiums.Life marketing manager Luis "Lingo" Borja from Moylan's Insurance Underwriters, Inc. says the price for insurance depends on several factors: your age, your health and your habits. "Basically in the insurance industry with Moylan's Insurance, auto insurance, homeowner's insurance, your life insurance, your health insurance it will basically pay a big cost to the individual because anybody who is a smoker whether it be smokeless tobacco or just a plain smoker will be paying higher premiums almost 40% higher than any individual who is a non-smoker," he said.Borja says with Moylan's Insurance policy premiums are determined according to careful studies on the risk factors certain groups of people exhibit. A smoker can pay a minimum of $1,000 more a year for life insurance than a comparable nonsmoker."In the life industry smokers have a high mortality rate they live much less longer than individuals who do not smoke, like I said earlier they pray a higher premium, you have at least a third of our death claim experience that we resulted due to people smoking receiving lung cancer," he said.While saving money and lowering your insurance premiums shouldn't be the only reason that you should consider quitting smoking, you may not be aware how much this habit is actually costing you. Smokers pay more insurance and lose money in several areas. Long-term, they even earn less.