Term insurance plans are cheaper for women as compared to men. The reason for this is that women outlive men and are healthier in general too.
Sarla and Ashok were both 29 years old. They decided to buy term life insurance plans for themselves. And since their life insurance requirements were similar, they opted for the same plan with coverages of Rs 1 crore for 20 years. While Sarla had to pay an annual premium of Rs 5176 for his term plan, Ashok had to pay Rs 6120. Why was there a difference in the premiums? What are the reasons why women get discounts on term life insurance? Read on to get your answers.
Top reasons why women pay less for term life insurance plans
There are three main reasons why women get discounts on term insurance plans. They are:
Longer life expectancy
It has been seen that women, in general, live longer than men. Statistics over the years have shown that women outlive men. As term life is a pure form of life insurance where the sum assured is paid on the death of the policyholder, the premium is lower for someone who is expected to live longer. A longer life means a longer premium paying duration as well. With more money coming in in the form of premiums, the financial burden of the insurer also lessens. This allows the insurance providers to make a cut in the premium expenses for women who buy the term plans, making plans marginally cheaper for the women.
Less morbidity
Women are seen to practice a healthier lifestyle than men. We find fewer women smokers and drinkers in India. Also, women don’t indulge in rash driving and road rage as much as their male peers do. Certain illnesses such as heart diseases strike men in their 50s or their 60s while they strike women only in their 70s. This makes women less susceptible to illnesses and consequently to death. Keeping this in mind, the insurance companies assume there will be a lower number of claims made by the women policyholders. So the prices of the term plans are lowered for the women.
Untapped market
Even though there is a greater balance between the male and female workforce, there still is a huge gap. In India, we commonly find the male members of the family working and earning the livelihood, while women are taking care of their households. As a result, more men have life insurance plans in their names. The insurance companies, in an attempt to lure more women to buy the term plans, lower the prices for them. This is another reason that makes term plans cheaper for women.
The bottom line
So as we can see, women do have to pay a lower premium for a term insurance plan as compared to men. There are some very logical reasons behind this. The insurance companies also do the lowering of the cost in an attempt to attract more women clients. Gone are the days when the lives of women were deemed to be less valuable. Nowadays, women match men in all areas, from the classroom to the boardroom. As a result, every woman should have the opportunity to stay protected and build up a corpus of her loved ones. The term insurance plans help her in doing this. So if you are women who haven’t bought a term plan yet, go online and do so right away. The plans are very simple to buy and are quite economical as well.