Quit Smoking, Delay Cashing in That Life Insurance Policy

Researchers have reportedly offered new information on the positive health impacts that quitting smoking can have - something that can also favorably affect the cost of one's life insurance policy.

A Reuters report this week focused on two separate research projects, one appearing in the journal Circulation and the other in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Both found that smoking bans tend to reduce heart attack rates by as much as 36 percent over time and that more than 150,000 heart attacks could be prevented each year by ending smoking outright. One researcher, Dr. David Meyers, was also quoted by Reuters as saying that public smoking bans may also help reduce lung cancer and emphysema rates.

So far, many states have been raising their taxes on cigarettes to close budget deficits, while the city of New York recently made news with a proposal that could see it banning smoking at public parks and beaches.

Regardless of what happens with such policies in the coming years, smokers who do manage to kick the habit will find benefits in both improved health and a potentially cheaper life insurance policy.