The U.S. MIB Life Index by age group for June showed ages 0-44, off -7.2%; ages 45-59, off -3.1%; and ages 60+, up +8.1% year-over-year. After growth in ten of the last twelve months, ages 45-59 had its largest year-over-year percentage decline since May 2009. Activity in the 60+ age group has paused from double digit growth to single digit for the first time since March 2009.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute reports that in 2009, 22 million Americans will be diagnosed with asthma, of which 6 million will be children. Last year, 5,000 people died from asthma.

Genetic predisposition to asthma, combined with air pollution, has led asthma rates to more than double in the last 17 years. Despite the serious nature of asthma, many of those with the condition can buy affordable life insurance.

The severity of your asthma determines how much you will pay for life insurance. A person with severe, persistent asthma is going to pay more for life insurance than someone with a mild, intermittent variety. Just as important is how you respond to treatments.

“By following their physicians’ advice, people with asthma can help control their symptoms and the severity of the disease,” says Dr. Alison Moy, medical director for Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston, a member of Liberty Mutual Group. “Maximizing one’s wellness through an asthma action plan can lead to a positive health outcome.”

If you have asthma, it pays to shop around and compare rates from several different companies.

The medical community has established goals for asthma treatment, which can help reduce life insurance rates if they are met.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the goals of asthma treatment include:

* No symptoms or low severity of symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and chest tightness.

* Sleeping through the night without asthma symptoms.

* No time off from school or work due to asthma.

* Full participation in physical activities.

* No emergency room visits or stays in the hospital due to asthma.

* Few or no side effects from asthma medicine.

If you apply for life insurance, the insurer will want to know how well you are achieving these goals. Insurers will also want to know your “peak flow meter” readings and the results of pulmonary function tests. The peak flow meter is a simple test that many asthmatics perform at home. The pulmonary function test is more detailed and should be performed by your doctor at least once a year. Both of these tests indicate how well you are breathing, allowing doctors and your insurance company to determine how asthma is affecting you.

In many cases, insurers will use the number and types of medications as an indicator of the severity of your condition.

When medication fails to control asthma properly, it can lead to higher life insurance rates, even if you believe your asthma is having little impact on your lifestyle.

On the other hand, if you stay active in spite of your asthma and you haven’t suffered any “exacerbating episodes” for the past one to three years — such as missing work or going to an emergency room because of an asthma flare up — your life insurance application will be viewed more favorably. Dr. Jacki Goldstein, vice president and chief medical officer for MetLife, says that underwriters classify asthma using many criteria.

“We look at how often there have been daytime and nighttime symptoms. Could there have been some point for acute exacerbation of symptoms — like a cold?” Goldstein says. “An emergency room visit may be an indicator that the person is not very compliant with their care. An unscheduled doctor’s office visit is very different from going to the ER.”

Sample underwriting rules for asthma

If you have asthma, you’ll find a variety of rates depending on the insurance company. Below is a sample of rules for applicants in different rate classifications.

American General

Preferred Plus and Preferred: Brief symptoms that occur no more than once per week and do not impact sleep; good response to inhaler; FEV1/PEF (measurements of airflow) of greater than or equal to 80 percent; no time lost at work.

Preferred Tobacco: Asthma will rule you out of this class if you are a smoker.

Standard: Asthmatics considered.

Prudential

Preferred Best and Preferred: Asthmatics not considered.

Standard: Moderate to severe asthma not considered.

According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly all asthma patients can become free of symptoms with proper treatment. There are new medications that can help asthmatics maintain long-term control of their symptoms.

“With the number of treatments there are now for asthma, if you follow the rules of your doctor’s treatment guidelines, it’s hard not to be successful in getting asthma under control,” says Goldstein.

An asthmatic with a track record of very good control can have a near normal life expectancy. If it has been more than two or three years since your asthma caused an unscheduled doctor visit, and it hasn’t caused you to miss work, you shouldn’t have trouble getting your life insurance issued with “standard” or even “preferred” rates.

In general, the more severe your last serious episode of asthma was, the longer you will have to wait before you can get the best-priced life insurance. If you went to the emergency room after an asthma attack, you will need to show a longer history of meeting your goals — perhaps as long as five to seven years depending on the circumstances and severity.

Frequent, less severe and recent asthma episodes can also cause problems in applying for life insurance. Those symptoms might suggest you are failing to follow your medication regimen or might need to change your treatment.

If you are a smoker with asthma, life insurance can be very expensive. Insurers will charge significantly higher smoker rates in addition to any higher rates linked to your asthma.

But if an asthmatic decides to stop smoking, Goldstein says it would be a year before they would be eligible for a better rating.

Even if you are a healthy nonsmoker with asthma, your insurer will want to see that you have been going to your doctor at least twice a year to have your condition monitored, and you should list all of the medications you are taking on your life insurance application. In many cases, insurers will use the number and types of medications as an indicator of the severity of your condition, but they will be more concerned with how you are responding to your treatment.

If you have recently changed medications, you may want to wait a year before applying for life insurance. That will give you time to establish a history of meeting your goals on the new regimen, which could lead to lower rates for life insurance.

Can I have more than one life insurance policy?

Yes, you can have multiple policies from the same or different life insurance companies. For example, you could have a permanent life insurance policy and also a term life policy for a short-term need. But if you apply for more insurance coverage than your situation indicates you need, the insurance companies will likely ask why.

What happens if I don’t pay the required premiums?

Typically, you will have a 30- or 31-day grace period. If you pay within this time period, your policy will continue in force. If you don’t pay within the grace period, your policy may lapse, depending on the type of policy you purchased. With a permanent policy, however, your life insurer may use your cash value, if available, to cover premium payments.

If you are unable to pay because you have become disabled, and you elected a “waiver of premium” provision or rider on your policy, you do not have to pay premiums for the duration of your disability. Universal life insurance policies generally offer policyholders increased flexibility in premium payments that may be important when your cash flow is variable.

What if my policy lapses?

A policy (other than universal life insurance) lapses when you fail to pay your life insurance premium by the end of the grace period. If you have a permanent life insurance policy and enough cash value in it, you may borrow from the policy to pay the premium. If you have a term life policy and don’t pay your premium within the grace period, your policy will lapse and simply end.

Do I need life insurance if I’m a young single person?

An advantage to buying life insurance now is your premiums will be low. If you have dependents in the future, you will have locked in the lowest rates and you will have guaranteed your “insurability,” meaning you won’t have to worry about higher rates as you age and possibly experience declining health.

Are there cases in which I don’t have to take a medical exam to buy life insurance?

Group policies generally don’t require medical exams, unless you have to prove your “insurability” in order to buy a large group life amount. Most group life insurance enrollments are held annually through your employer.

“Simplified issue” policies require that you answer some medical history questions but don’t require an exam.

“Guaranteed issue” policies require no medical exam or medical questions, but you will pay significantly more in premiums than you would with an underwritten policy, even if you’ve had some health issues.

What do insurance companies look for in the medical exams?

The medical exam generally collects your height, weight, blood pressure, urine sample and blood sample. These results, along with your age, gender, family health history and answers to health questions, will determine what rate class you fit in. Your agent or insurance company should explain what criteria determine the class into which you fall.

If you don’t qualify for the preferred rate today, you might be able to improve your rate category if certain health factors improve. For example, say a 35-year old woman buys a life insurance policy. She is 50 pounds overweight, has high blood pressure and is trying to quit smoking. Two years later, her policy is still in force and she has lost 50 pounds, her blood pressure is normal and she has been nicotine-free for a year. She could talk with her agent about possibly getting a re-evaluation of her rates.

If the medical evaluation showed a new health condition for which she would be classified into an even higher rate category, she would remain at her current rate.

The insurance company will not reclassify you into a higher rate bracket during a re-evaluation.

Can I buy a policy on someone else?

Yes, but only if you have an “insurable interest” in that person. This usually means a spouse, domestic partner or live-in companion, or a business partner.

Can I buy a policy on someone else without them knowing about it?

Although there are certain exceptions in some states (a husband or wife, for example, may be able to purchase insurance on his or her spouse), the answer to the question is generally “no.” You cannot take out an insurance policy on someone else’s life without his knowledge and consent.

Can I name anyone I want as my beneficiary?

Yes, you own the policy and you can name whoever you want as the beneficiary. While many people choose only their spouse, it is possible to name more than one person as a beneficiary. For example, if you have a $100,000 individual life insurance policy, you could name your spouse and four children to share in the policy equally at $20,000 each.

Do life insurance policies ever cancel each other out? If I have a credit life policy and a whole life policy, will one not pay out?

No. Upon your death (assuming you have paid all the necessary premiums), both policies will pay out to the beneficiaries named.

Your life insurance policy is no different and finding cheap life insurance online is more and more easy using comparability websites and tools like 2 Minute Quote.

Here’s our top ten tips for finding cheap life cover and also ensuring you get the best value for your money:

Stop smoking!

Not only is smoking awful for your well being (as several conscious from the constant stream of government information) but it has a tremendous effect on your life insurance premiums. On average, a smoker can pay up to two times that of a non-smoker due to the elevated hazards to your health.

Your insurance corporation will consider you as a smoker in anticipation of having been smoke free for 12 months but after 12 months they will happily reflect on your cover and bring your premiums down to a non-smoker rate, possibly halving your premium!

Paying more does not convert it into a superior policy!

With some items in life it seems sensible to adopt the ‘you get what you pay for’ frame of mind but with finding cheap life insurance, that certainly isn’t the case!

Most life policies are identically about the features they offer. The differences are minor and video game of the day, they will pay your family a lump sum if you die within the term of the cover.

The only difference with most policies is the brand name on the cover and the company underwriting it. All life policies are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme meaning you are covered if something goes wrong, so paying more for the name on the tin doesn’t make the policy worth paying more for!

Typically you would have sort your cheap life insurance policy from a financial consultant or with a organization on the telephone.

The main advantage of the internet is there is access to a online insurance comparison websites, like 2 Minute Quote, who can compare the whole of the market for you in only some seconds.

This means that instead of getting just one price, you can find the charges of numerous types of insurers and then pick the one which fits into your budget and which saves you the most funds!

Banks, Building Societies and often mortgage lenders will always try to prey on you for all those at your weakest, i.e. if you find yourself sat with them in the bank and feel you shouldn’t say no to what they are offering you.

You need to save money and ensure you receive the most competitive life insurance quote, you MUST say no! Even if it’s only you can sell organic time disappear and compare the offer against other providers.

The main downside of some of these institutions is that they often only will give you a single price from their own provider making it very expensive (Often twice or three times the price of elsewhere).