Few items go down in price over time but term life insurance is one of them. The Term life insurance cost has once again dropped to all-time lows.
Numerous factors appear to be causing lower premiums for term life insurance.
- The U.S. term life market is highly competitive with hundreds, of companies competing for business.
- Death rates in the U.S. have been steadily declining since the 1950s. As quoted by the National Center for health Statistics in Death in the United States, 2009 "Mortality in the United States is best summarized by the age-adjusted death rate—a measure that accounts for changes in the age distribution of the population. This rate has declined in an almost uninterrupted manner since 1960. The death rate is now 45 percent lower than in 1960 (declining from 1,339.2 per 100,000 standard population in 1960 to 741.0 in 2009). And when death rates fall, the insurance companies earn more profit.
- Men are catching up in life expectancy to women, according to the National Center for Health Statistics at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
While some people think you need to be in perfect health to get low term life insurance cost, you might be surprised at how liberal many companies have become. Many health conditions are now easily managed with routine drugs are will not affect life expectancy. For example, since the majority of Americans over age 50 have hypertension, this does not preclude you from insurance when controlled by medication. Even people with heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other medical conditions can be insurable. These latter conditions will often result in a rating (a higher premium that someone in "perfect heath" would pay).
The insurance companies even allow for the fact that we have all become a bit heavier over the years. One insurance company even gives its best rates to a 6 foot tall male weighing up to 206 pounds (not exactly thin and about 20 pounds heavier than your personal trainer would tell you is the correct weight).
So be ready for a pleasant surprise when you shop for term life insurance and lower term life insurance cost. And do shop for term life insurance (online purchase has become the norm) as prices vary quite a bit from company to company.
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