My Health Insurance allows vaping as nonsmoker

[woodhippy]

This just great. i was informed that I needed to sign the I quit smoking form. Because vaping is not smoking.
I will now get the the non smoker rate and save 360 buck a Year.
Yeah more money for my hobbies
Woodhippy

 

[bacc.vap]

Cool, they all should do that. I think I remember someone saying that their insurance company paid for equipment for anyone who wanted to switch. Does yours?

 

[woodhippy]

I haven't been told that. But I told the wife I was shopping for a new tank with all the money I am going to save.

 

[gpjoe]

So, do they test?

Just curious if the do blood tests for nicotine. I am sure that more and more companies are going to impose higher health care premiums as penalties to smokers, but I'm wondering if it strictly the "honor system" or if they actually test you for nic in your system. Of course all of that is moot if you vape 0mg juice.

Edit: OK, re-reading your post - if they are paying for your vaping equipment, then I assume they realize you will still have nicotine in your system.

 

[wheelie]

My doctor changed my file over to non smoker.

 

[cores]

Nicotine is just a stimulant, not a death sentence.



Sure nicotine is a poison if enough is taken. So is Fluoride. As well as the Nitrogen in the air created by mother earth.

Just because vaping can contain nicotine, doesn't make it even similar to the deadly carcinogens in cigarettes. Insurance companies aren't stupid. They'd be more worried that vaping may be a gateway to smoking than vaping being dangerous to health.

 

[NCHornet]

I was wondering if my insurance company would do the complete opposite. That is why I only vape 0 nic. My rates are to high as it is. Besides I quit the cancer sticks 25 years ago.

 

[jjk1]

This is a good sign. Insurance companies don’t do anything they don’t have to do that doesn’t help the bottom line. Their job is to collect as much and pay out as little as possible. Getting smokers to switch saves them money or they wouldn’t classify vaping as not smoking. Seems to me like the loudest anti vapors are in the danger business collecting grant money from people in the tax collection business.

 

[BrushyHillGuide]

Too bad life insurance companies won't do the same. They were a HUGE factor in my decision to ween off nicotine (which I have) because I want to get some life insurance and I want to be able to (honestly) claim non-smoker status.

I don't think that vaping nicotine will be considered "safe" by insurance companies in the long run. I hope I'm wrong but they will use any excuse to charge you a higher rate. Until there are definitive, massive and long-term (decades long) studies proving that there's no substantial long-term health risks to vaping, they're going to fall on the side of caution.


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[Podunk]

Be very careful people. I started vaping when our insurer told us our policy rates will double when we renew in 2015 for anyone classed as a smoker. Our company pays 100% for the employee! but they decided smokers pick up the surcharge estimated at $800 per month each. The question remains whether the insurance company will surcharge anyone using any type of nicotine or device. My goal is nic free before renewal time.

 

[Rat2chat2]

It is wonderful to hear a bit of good news regarding vaping instead of all non-proven negativity. I am listed as a non-smoker with my doctor and insurance company. But I am not real sure if my insurance has the same definition as me.

 

[LaPascualita]

I think vaping is still too new for anything bad to come from it. Many of us are former smokers. Any future illness can be from past smoking. Hard to prove it's from vaping. Now if you get someone who never smoked a day in their life, who picked up vaping, die from vaping related illness, there might be a problem. But what if that person was a welder, worked with chemicals, or any hazardous environment?

 

[JimSmith94]

I had United Healthcare at a previous job. My company charged an extra $60 a month for tobacco users, but the insurance company confirmed that e-cigs are not considered tobacco, the same way that the patch or gum are not. I'm now on Blue Cross Blue Shield and listed myself as a non-smoker with no qualms at all.

 

[spartanstew]

They were a HUGE factor in my decision to ween off nicotine (which I have) because I want to get some life insurance and I want to be able to (honestly) claim non-smoker status.

If you're vaping, you are a non-smoker (honestly).

 

[PaulBHC]

I just signed up for health insurance again, online. It asked if we were tobacco users, defined by 4 or more times a week. I checked NO. First time in our lives.

 

[BrushyHillGuide]

If you're vaping, you are a non-smoker (honestly).

For health insurance I am by for life insurance I'm only a non-tobacco user if I can pass a test for nicotine; or, rather, the lack thereof. The test is extremely accurate and nicotine stays in the system a long time. Doesn't really matter if I consider myself a non smoker. I want their coverage I have to accept their definitions. Another 6 months of vaping 0mg and I'll be able to pass the test and meet their requirements for a non-tobacco user.


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[OldBatty]

I was wondering if my insurance company would do the complete opposite. That is why I only vape 0 nic. My rates are to high as it is. Besides I quit the cancer sticks 25 years ago.

(Bows) Wow, I thought I was an anomaly at 5 years. Might be difficult for you to pick the best average price to plug in, but once you do one of those signatures that calculate how much you have saved you will be astounded! Mine is over $10,000 and I am in the state with the third lowest tax in the nation. Also quit two weeks after the federal tax jumped from $0.39 per pack to $1.01 per pack.

 

[woodhippy]

E-cigarettes create quandry for health insurers, policymakers : Special

“For our individual business we do not consider e-cigarettes as tobacco use that can affect the rates we charge,” said Deb Wiethop, a spokeswoman for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in Missouri. “We interpret tobacco as products that contain tobacco such as cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, and snuff.”

“At this time Coventry Health Care, an Aetna company, does not ask about or rate for e-cigarette usage,” said spokesman Rohan Hutchings. “Aetna’s policies and procedures [will] be revisited as future guidance dictates.”

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is the one my employer is with.
I found the above online this mornin.

Woodhippy

 

[woodhippy]

So, do they test?

Just curious if the do blood tests for nicotine. I am sure that more and more companies are going to impose higher health care premiums as penalties to smokers, but I'm wondering if it strictly the "honor system" or if they actually test you for nic in your system. Of course all of that is moot if you vape 0mg juice.

Edit: OK, re-reading your post - if they are paying for your vaping equipment, then I assume they realize you will still have nicotine in your system.

They are not paying for my equipment

 

[spartanstew]

For health insurance I am by for life insurance I'm only a non-tobacco user if I can pass a test for nicotine; or, rather, the lack thereof. The test is extremely accurate and nicotine stays in the system a long time. Doesn't really matter if I consider myself a non smoker. I want their coverage I have to accept their definitions. Another 6 months of vaping 0mg and I'll be able to pass the test and meet their requirements for a non-tobacco user.


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Either way, if the question asks if you are a smoker or non-smoker, non-smoker is the right answer.

If it asks if you are a nicotine user, that's different, but that's not the question I was responding to.