Ed Hinerman On Life Insurance

Frequently asked question!

May 18th, 2007

Since 9/11, in fact starting that day, the question of whether life insurance covers you if you die during an act of terrorism or war has come up often. No doubt that we all feel more vulnerable since that day, but the answer from all the insurance companies I talked to was that there was no intention of adding a clause and that unless you had a very old policy (35-40 years at least), there shouldn’t be any such clause in your current policy.

The last time I saw life insurance policies with any exclusion for acts of war was in the late 70’s and those policies were old at that time. And of course terrorism is a fairly new term and no clauses have been written to exclude it.

Keep in mind that I am talking about life insurance, not accidental death insurance. I really don’t know what exclusions might be buried in that type of policy. The last time I reviewed one it seemed a little restrictive, so if you are inclined to look into AD&D insurance, read the exclusions carefully. I don’t personally recommend it.

What about military? Some life insurance companies will write new policies on active duty military as long as they don’t have current orders. Makes sense that they wouldn’t want to underwrite insurance for someone that knew were headed to Afghanistan or Iraq. I think, personally, that those companies that will underwrite coverage without current orders are to be commended. There are also some military occcupational classes that might not get underwritten. I did run into a case where the person’s job was disarming explosives and there weren’t any companies interested in that risk.

Again, good reason to have an independent agent. Not all companies are hospitable to our armed forces and a good agent will know which companies will treat them right.

Related Posts

• A life insurance oxymoron!
• Life Insurance For Civilian Workers In Iraq And Afghanistan!!
• How Can I Tell What Is Excluded In My Life Insurance Policy?
• When Life Insurance Doesn’t Have To Pay!
• Life Insurance Contestability Clause!

Entry Filed under: Independent agent, insurance, life insurance