Vaping and insurance underwriting

Vaping arrived faster than insurance wordings did, and the market spent several years catching up. The settled position across most New Zealand insurers is that vaping nicotine is nicotine use and attracts smoker rates. The reasoning is straightforward from an underwriting perspective: the rate tables are built on nicotine exposure, and cotinine testing does not distinguish between delivery methods.

Where the market is not uniform is in the wording. Some definitions refer to any nicotine product, some list specific products, and a small number treat nicotine-free vaping differently from nicotine vaping. Because the premium difference between the two rate tables is so large, reading the actual definition before choosing an insurer is worth real money.

The question to ask is not whether you smoke, but what the insurer’s definition captures.

• Nicotine vaping is treated as smoking by most New Zealand insurer definitions.
• Nicotine-free vaping is treated differently by some insurers and not by others.
• Nicotine pouches, gum and patches are captured by some definitions.
• The clear period required before non-smoker rates apply differs, and can be a year or more.
• Occasional vaping counts. There is no social-use threshold.

How it is verified

• A cotinine test forms part of the standard underwriting blood panel where testing is triggered.
• Cotinine detects nicotine regardless of whether it came from a cigarette or a vape.

Because definitions in this area have been revised as the market has settled, the wording that applied when a policy was written is not necessarily the wording that applies now. If you have stopped, the route to better rates is the same as for smoking: meet the insurer’s stated clear period, then ask for the policy to be reassessed.

These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.

• That most definitions capture nicotine vaping, so declaring non-smoker is usually wrong.
• That the wording is not uniform, and it is worth reading before choosing an insurer.
• That cotinine testing does not distinguish between vaping and smoking.
• That definitions in this area have been changing and may have moved since you last looked.
• That non-smoker rates must be requested once you qualify.

Every New Zealand insurer writes applications where nicotine use applies to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.

• Definitions differ enough between insurers that an adviser can point you at the one whose wording fits your situation.
• An adviser can confirm the current wording rather than relying on guidance written a few years ago.
• Where a policy was issued at smoker rates, an adviser can run the reassessment when you qualify.
• For applicants with a respiratory history, an adviser knows how each insurer combines the two.

There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.

The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.

• An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
• An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
• An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
• An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.

We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.

1. 1

   You tell us what you are looking at

   The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.

2. 2

   An adviser calls you

   A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.

3. 3

   They compare the market

   The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.

4. 4

   You decide, in your own time

   There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.