Actually they don't. On the phone interview, they asked me specifically if I used tobacco, I said "No." At the physical, they had a form that asked again, but expanded into 'tobacco replacement products', such as gum, patches, etc.. and so I again answered "No" to the tobacco question, and "Yes" to the replacement question. I thought I was completely honest, and even told the nurse that I used the e-cig.
Prudential rated me as a smoker, and said it was because I had nicotine in my system, and that I lied about tobacco use. I argued with them about it, but in the end, they said the e-cig is a tobacco product, not a replacement product.
Screw them.
Actually, they do. I suspect you had a substandard agent advocating for you, or no agent at all, or the whole story hasn't been painted here.
Prudential is notoriously one of the few "big" insurers that will issue "non-smoker" ratings to smokeless tobacco, nicotine replacement therapy, occassional/celebratory cigar, and e-cig users. I've succesfully underwritten clients with Prudential hundreds of times. There are a couple of limitations:
1. The highest rating available is "Standard Plus". This is better than a standard rating, but not as good as a preferred, preferred plus, or elite ratings. Due to Prudential's rates being slightly higher than many of its competitors, "standard plus non-smoker" from Prudential may still be more expensive than a "preferred smoker" rating from one of its competitors. For that reason, we tell clients to look less at "ratings" and more towards prices. If it is cheaper, do you really care what they call it?
2. The applicant has to attest that they have not used cigarettes in the past 12 months, and that they do use some other form of nicotine. Omitting either one of these items is grounds for denial. I suspect this is where you hit trouble. More on this in a moment.
3. A blood and urine sample that will confirm the presence of continine (the nicotine by-product that is actually tested for), but must not have levels higher than a certain amount. Cigarette smokers tend to have much higher cotinine levels than those that use other forms of tobacco. If your levels are too high, Prudential will simply refuse to believe that you do not smoke cigarettes. This does not sit well with many clients. But look at it from Prudential's point of view: if you are using nicotine subsitutes at such a high level that it makes a urinalysis appear that you are smoking a pack a day, there is a highly likely chance that you will end up smoking again at some point. Prudential is simply playing the odds.
I see a number of areas where your application could have gone "off the rails". For one, you said that your questionaire was completed via phone interview. This is becoming more common. I, personally, don't like it. The exact question on the Prudential application is: "Has the primary insured EVER used tobacco or any other nicotine products, such as...?" The answer to that question, for you, is "yes". According to your post, you answered "No". This is very possibly due to the interviewer not asking the question correctly. Or, it is possible, you misunderstood the question. Either way, a paper application would have avoided this.
More importantly, a decent agent should have curtailed all of this. For starters, you should have been given a list of "do and don't" to prepare for your physical exam. Among other things, that list should have told you not to smoke (even your e-cig) the morning of your physical exam. Secondly, a decent agent would have "prepped" you by doing a mock interview. It's really no different than preparing a witness for trial. The key is to be truthful, but not overly forthcoming. And third, once the smoker rating was applied, a good agent would have contacted Prudential, explained that there was some mistake/confusion, and asked them to reconsider. 9 times out of 10, this works.
If this was an online, do-it-yourself, situation, you got what you paid for. Reconsider using an agent next time. It doesn't cost extra to do so. If you used an agent, it's time to find a new one.
good luck and best wishes,
