Piling On The Pounds Over The Festive Season Will Affect More Than Your Health
Why does being overweight raise my life insurance premiums?
There are plenty of statistics to show that people are getting heavier in the UK.
The Government estimates around one in four Britons are clinically obese. Peoples waistlines keep expanding.
A report published in October 2006 by the World Health Organisation shows 76% of British men aged between 30 and 69 are overweight, compared with 65% 10 years ago. Sixty-nine per cent of women are overweight, compared with 55 per cent in 1995.
People are getting heavier at a younger, age too, which bodes badly for the future.
The problem for insurers is that if you are overweight, the more likely you are to suffer from heart disease, diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure and even chronic depression.
The WHO report, for example, estimated that by 2015 diabetes would kill 8,000 more people a year in the UK than the current 33,000. This increases the chances of insurers having to pay out upon your death, so they have to cover themselves by raising premiums.
How do I know whether the insurers think I...