Category: Health Insurance

When a loved one dies, one of the first things you have to do in this painful time, is access their life insurance policy. However, many times policyholders fail to divulge information to their family members as to where their policy has been stored, for various reasons. Searching for a lost policy, especially when a family is in dire financial need, can be quite a draining exercise, more so when you are also trying to come to grips with the loss of a loved one.

How can you make the search for a lost life policy more fruitful, and less stressful? Here are some pointers:

Check the deceased’s bank documents:

Checks and credit cards are the most common ways that people in the US pay their life insurance premiums. The first place to check is your loved one’s check books and credit card statements (to see if any payments were made to life insurance companies). If this doesn’t work, ask the bank for any life insurance-related ECS (electronic clearing service) transfers. Some banks also offer policies at subsidized rates to their customers, so you will need to check with the bank if your loved one’s bank account is linked to any of their policies.

Contact the deceased’s employer: Many people opt for a group insurance if their employer has the facility. Contact your employer to check if a) your loved one had such an insurance policy, and b) if a component of his deductions was going towards insurance premiums.

Contact the deceased’s friends:

Because the topic of life insurance can be frightening or uncomfortable for family members, many prefer to discuss and plan their life insurance with close friends rather than with family. Get in touch with your loved one’s circle of friends and confidantes, and they may be able to give you a clue.

Address book or phone contacts:

If your loved one had insurance, it is very likely that he has kept his agent’s contact details handy either in a book, or on his cell phone. Check these sources.

Request access to their email id:

If your loved one has searched for his policy online, there might be information in his or her email account. Most email service providers will hand over access to a deceased user’s email account, after making sure that you are in fact closely connected, and requesting for an authorized death certificate. However, it may take you as long as 30 days to finally get access to the account. When you do get access, search on key words such as “life insurance” “policy number”, “term life insurance quote” or “affordable life insurance” to locate relevant emails quickly.

Contact online brokerage firms:

Since online brokerage firms deal with hundreds of insurance companies, it might be possible that your loved one has purchased insurance through them. Most online agencies offer free term life quotes, and if one of these was offered to your loved ones, they will have a record of the same, and if your loved one has purchased a policy based on the free life insurance quote.

Enlist the help of professional policy-finding services:

When you have searched everywhere with no results, perhaps it is time to enlist help. There are a few individuals and companies who offer professional help to trace your loved one’s policy.

MIB Group has a Policy Locator service that has a record of all policies applied for in the last 13 years. For a nominal fee of $75 they will search through their database of applications and let you know if your loved one had applied for a policy, and if so, the name of the insurance company. You have to then contact the insurance company and check if a policy had been issued on that application.

Lost Life Insurance Finder Expert is a service that will fax letters to hundreds of customer service centers at insurance companies asking if your loved one had any policies enlisting you as a beneficiary. They charge a nominal fee, which is much less than it would cost you to fax letters on your own steam, not to mention saving you the time it would have taken you to compile insurance companies’ contact information.

Finally, if some time has elapsed since your loved one’s death, MissingMoney.com is a website that offers you a free online search of life insurance policies which have been deemed unclaimed and transferred to the state.

When you locate the policy, check if it’s a term life policy or a permanent one. If it’s a term life insurance policy, check that the term has not expired. If it has, then you won’t be able to collect death benefits on it. Similarly, with a permanent life insurance policy, you will be able to collect the benefits only if premium payments are up to date.

There is a good chance that the deceased may have had more than one insurance policy. Usually if you locate one policy, other policies are easier to locate as the application of the located policy usually contains details on other life insurance policies owned at the time of purchasing the policy.

As you can see, all the hassle of trying to locate a policy can be avoided if you have first hand information on your loved ones’ insurance details. If you are a policyholder remember to keep your policy where your family can find it, or better still, keep them informed of the policy details as soon as it is purchased.

A high risk life insurance plan is a special type of insurance designed for those people, who are exposed to risky jobs. For instance, jobs such as piloting plane, scuba diving, car racing, firefighting and stunt jobs are dangerous, as they always involve risk. People doing high-risk jobs often put their lives at risk. They thus require special life insurance packages as compared to people doing an ordinary 9 to 5 job. In addition, people fighting against diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart ailments and others can buy high risk life insurance plans. Such plans are specially customized to handle the risks involved. Life insurance provider calculates the risk factors by incorporating them into the plan. Generally, people buying high risk insurance pay higher premiums.

Some people carry an opinion that people buying impaired risk insurance plan have to shell more money to find very little or less in return. Although, it is not completely true. People buying such plans may have to shell more money in the form of premiums, but they too gain similar benefits as one gets in ordinary life insurance plan. Following are some facts about high risk life insurance plans:

Answer It Right:

While asking for a plan, you need to answer some important questionnaires that decide whether you are a high risk customer or not. It is ideal to answer the questions in a straight and simple way. For instance, if rock climbing is your hobby and not profession, then you may avoid talking about it during the questionnaire rounds. Such answers may confuse insurance providers while calculating the risks related to your plan.

Specialized Brokers:

Always choose specialized broker while choosing an insurance. They are well equipped with knowledge on right policies, which would help you reap all the benefits from the plan. Their advices are indispensable and might help you in saving unnecessary premiums.

Beware of NSR:

Some providers offer Non-Standard Rates (NSR) to people with high risks. These rates are considerably lower than what you might expect. It is ideal to compare quotes from different life insurance providers before investing in a plan. In addition, you may take help from specialized brokers.

Clinical Medical Underwriting:

Choose quotes from providers that stick to using up-to-date methods for calculating risks in a plan. Some insurance providers use old formulas while calculating the risks. Clinical medical underwriting is a fair concept, which takes possibilities of modern treatment and facilities in curing your existing disease. This helps dissolve the risks in your plan.

Online Quotes:

There are different impaired risk insurance plans available over Internet. You may use a good search engine to locate and compare online quotes from online high-risk insurance providers.

Limited death benefit:

Most people are aware that risk factor plays an important role in deciding the premium rates of your plans. Owing to higher risks, you may require to pay more money as compared to ordinary plans. Also very high risk offer limited death benefits as compared to low risk plans.

Life or death is not a question of choice in fact how sooner or later it happens is the question of destiny. No one can predict when death will strike, that is why securing your future even at the time of death is of prime importance for the sake of your family members and your loved ones. Purchasing a life insurance doesn’t mean just a good thought on investment or doing a favor to the financial market but it is one of the best ways of assuring your freedom even during unforeseen times. If you are an expat or planning on becoming one the necessity for procuring an expat insurance equals to the quest for the Holy Grail.

Availing a life insurance policy protects your future and frees you from financial liability you’re your outstanding debts- mortgage, credit cards balances and other loans. Some plans also cover the part or whole of medication expenses incurred during your treatment from serious ailments or before the death. With a life insurance plan in hand, your family and children will not bear the brunt of unpaid taxes for your estates or properties and other settlement costs. All these sounds good! How about being away from your country and you meet the most unthinkable–death, untimely? A thought that run chills down your spine. Are you prepared for that? If not, then it is the right time to know where you fit.

In general, there are three types of personal life insurance namely- the Term Insurance, the Whole Life and the Universal Life depending upon the term of payment, benefits or features and the duration of policy. Taking an expat insurance is the best option for an expatriate before moving on to another country. The terms and conditions of your ordinary life insurance policy may invalidate the cover once you become an expat. Life insurance for international travel are formulated on the basis of the country you live in and the secondly the nationality you belong.

Insurance companies take into account various criteria like mortality and morbidity of the country in question. Then accordingly, they calculate your liability based on – place where you live, the work you do, your age and medical history. These factors allow them to come up with possible time of death and chances of contracting disease or other critical illnesses specific to the region of your migration. The morbidity and mortality while you are within your country is apprehensible however, the predictability for the same reduces when you are in a different country. And, this is the reason why most insurance companies refuse to take the risk when the insurer moves out the country unless you have an expat health insurance or an expat life insurance.

So, don’t sit back on your ordinary insurance if you are planning on becoming an expatriate. overseas life insurance is the life-saver in foreseen times and place, secure your life with an expatriate insurance. Remember, Time and tide waits for no man, so why wait and put your life at greater risk.

Consult a professional qualified financial advisor for the most suitable coverage for you. Expat Global Medical is a leading expatriate insurance provider which specializes in delivering quality expat life insurance coverage at competitive prices and with great benefits.