Did you know that there are life insurance benefits you may be able to take advantage of before you die? It’s true.
Life insurance itself is an amazing product, and when you add a feature known as the Accelerated Death Benefit, also known as the Terminal Illness Rider, it can make your policy even more valuable. The concept behind the Accelerated Death Benefit is simple: under certain circumstances, your life insurance company can give you a cash advance against your death benefit. You can use the money to cover medical bills, pay for a family vacation, or otherwise make the most of the time you have left. Availability may vary by state.
The Accelerated Death Benefit can provide relief during a very difficult time.
Some life insurance policies include an Accelerated Death benefit automatically, and others will require you to request the benefit. Every insurance carrier does things differently.
Now, take a minute and listen to our veteran agent, Howard Weissman, share his real-life experience with the Accelerated Death Benefit…“I’ll never forget that phone call from his wife…”
Benefit Details
The Rider itself can’t be used as a savings account. In order to actually take advantage of the benefit you must be diagnosed with:
- Terminal Illness
- Chronic Illness*
- Critical Illness*
*While terminal illness has been an Accelerated Death Benefit feature on both term and permanent life insurance policies for many years, chronic and critical illness have been added primarily to permanent life insurance policies during the past few years. Few term life policies offer chronic and critical illness as Accelerated Death Benefit riders. That may change in the coming years.
Terminal Illness
Terminally ill means that you (the insured) has a medical condition resulting from bodily injury or disease, or both, which is expected to result in death within 12 months of diagnosis (most insurance companies go by 12 months). This is the most common accelerated death benefit feature available in life insurance policies nowadays and has been around for years.
Chronic Illness
Chronically ill means that you (the insured) are unable to perform, without substantial assistance from another person, at least two out of the six Activities of Daily Living. These activities include eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, continence, transferring (being able to stand up, walk across the room and sit back down), or requires substantial supervision by another person due to severe cognitive impairment. This assistance is often referred to as long-term care – and it is EXPENSIVE.
About 70% of people over the age of 65 will need access to long-term care at some point.
Critical Illness
Critically ill generally means that you (the insured) has been diagnosed with one or more of the following health conditions (conditions may vary among insurance carriers):
- Heart Attack
- Stroke
- Cancer
- End-stage Renal Failure
- Major Organ Transplant
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
- Blindness
- Paralysis
The Accelerated Death Benefit can help make an already hard time, a little easier by not having to worry about finances, and instead, focus on making lasting memories.
Now call us at 800-442-9899 and speak to a real person! (yes, we’re old school.) You have enough things to think about, so we’ve taken the stress out of shopping for life insurance.
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