Sir, – Your article stating that there is a probability that smokers lie about their habit when applying for life insurance demonstrates yet again how insurance companies conduct their business with less attention to detail than we, the public, deserve ("Smoker lies causing life insurance prices to rise, insurance company says", August 11th).
The solution to the problem is quite simple if the insurers would bother to implement it. Each person applying for life insurance could have three other people, one of them being the family doctor, and all of whom would have known the applicant for at least five years, witness the non-smoking declaration and sign to the effect that the applicant is currently and has been a non-smoker to the best of their knowledge.
The requirement for four people to sign the declaration would make an untruth significantly less likely. Problem solved. – Yours, etc,
SEAN O’SULLIVAN,
Crossabeg,
Co Wexford.