Katherine Warnock Having a life insurance policy with a term plan with accidental disability riders may be beneficial to you if you plan on including your child or any riders in your life insurance policy.
Life can be unpredictable, so having insurance that covers any type of burial, final expense, or accidental disability can give you the peace of mind of a secure financial future.
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Should I buy accidental disability rider insurance?
Along with life insurance as a whole, accidental disability riders insurance is an important add-on to have if you plan on having riders on your policy.
According to the CDC, 26% of households will experience at least one form of disability. This makes it very important to plan ahead for those unforeseen circumstances.
Disability life insurance riders are designed to provide income for a period of time when the rider is not able to work or has some kind of financial issue that requires extra income.
The types of riders in life insurance will vary depending on the company you choose, but most companies offer relatively the same amount of coverage for accidental disabilities.
What plans cover accidental disability income riders?
There are plenty of policies and companies to choose from when it comes to disability riders. Here are some of our top picks.
Prudential
Prudential offers a variety of different types of disability income benefit riders, including full disability and death benefits. These are additional add-ons that can be added to your policy once you elect them. Some do require additional underwriting to qualify.
Disability riders include:
- Waiver of Premium. If you become disabled and are unable to work, it could become difficult to pay your policy premiums. Available on term policies, this benefit will keep your life insurance coverage intact.
- Term Essential is Prudential’s term life product
- Enhanced Disability Benefit Rider. If you become disabled and are unable to work, it could become difficult to pay your policy premiums. Available on permanent policies, this benefit will keep your life insurance coverage intact.
- Products include: PruLife Index Advantage UL, VUL Protector, and PruLife Custom Premier II
- Waiver of Monthly Deductions. If the insured becomes totally disabled, as defined in the rider, for at least six continuous months (waiting period), the company will pay the monthly charges into the contract fund.
- Products include: PruLife Essential UL, and PruLife Founders Plus UL
Additionally, Prudential offers death benefit riders as well. These riders can give you an economical way to provide life insurance for your minor children or an additional death benefit if you suffer a fatal accident.
Each is available for an additional cost.
- Children’s Protection Rider: This feature, available on our term policies, gives you the option to provide life insurance for your young children. It also provides the option to convert the coverage to a new permanent life insurance policy at specific ages when they are older.
- Product includes: Term Essential
- Children Level Term Rider: This feature, available on our permanent policies, gives you the option to provide life insurance for your young children. It also provides the option to convert the coverage to a new permanent life insurance policy at specific ages when they are older.
- Products include: PruLife Essential UL, PruLife Founders Plus UL, PruLife Index Advantage UL, VUL Protector, and PruLife Custom Premier II
- Accidental Death Benefit: A fatal accident can be especially devastating to your family. This benefit will pay an additional death benefit if you’re in an accident that directly causes your death. (Not available in MA.)
- Products include: Term Essential, PruLife Essential UL, PruLife Founders Plus UL, PruLife Index Advantage UL, VUL Protector, and PruLife Custom Premier II
Estate planning riders, as well as cash value riders, are also available through add-ons with Prudential.
Guardian Life
Guardian Life offers three different products when it comes to disability riders, as well as a lump sum benefit for those over the age of 60.
Basic Partial Disability Benefit
This benefit pays partially if you suffer any kind of illness or injury that results in limiting your ability to work. This is not for a total cause of disability and you will only be able to use this for partial expenses.
Enhanced Partial Disability Benefit
This benefit provides assistance for any sickness or injury that has resulted in an income loss of 15% or more.
For the first 12 months of having this rider, benefits will be equal to the actual loss of income and up to 100% of your monthly benefit. After 12 months, benefits are paid in proportion to your income loss.
When you fully recover and return to work full time, Guardian will continue to pay these benefits as long as you have any loss of income of at least 15% of your prior income.
Guardian also has a Waiver of Premium benefits, so your monthly policy payments will be suspended until six months after your recovery date.
HDFC Life
HDFC Life has a few key features when it comes to accidental disability riders. Most notably is that there is no waiting period for benefits to start.
Other benefits include:
- Regular monthly income payments in the event of total permanent disability
- Regular monthly income that is equal to 1% of the Sum Assured for a fixed period of 10 years
- In the case of the death of the insured while the benefit payments are still outstanding, then the policyholder will continue to receive the outstanding monthly benefit payments
Additionally, there is no maturity benefit to the disability rider with HDFC, and the maximum age to add on a rider to your policy is 65. Pre-existing conditions will also disqualify you from being able to add your rider to this policy type.
MetLife
For MetLife’s accidental disability rider, you get a few different things covered, as well as stipulations when it comes to what accidents and disabilities qualify for coverage.
Benefits for coverage include:
- Coverage for accidental disability. The Rider Benefits will be paid only if the Life Insured gets into an accident that renders them disabled within 180 days from the date of the accident and independent of other causes.
- Necessary impairments. The Life Assured must have a total and irrecoverable loss of sight of both eyes, amputation, or loss of use of both hands or feet at/or above the wrists or ankles respectively.
- Acceptable Duration of Disability. The disability must last without interruption, for at least 180 consecutive days and must be deemed permanent by a panel of independent medical practitioners.
What is not included under MetLife’s disability coverage:
- An accident during a flying activity
- Suicide (within 12 months of buying the policy)
- Substance abuse
- Dangerous activities (this includes any professionally played sports or hazardous pursuits)
Although it seems like MetLife is a bit stringent when it comes to what they will and will not cover for disabilities, they do offer affordable rates as well as the flexibility to change your policy to fit your needs if you need to.
What is the purpose of a disability income benefit?
An income benefit is important when it comes to a disability rider because it is used to replace the loss of income that happens as a result of the insured being injured or disabled.
If you become disabled and are no longer able to work full-time or for a certain period of time, this benefit will give you payouts to equal or make up for the loss of income.
Best Term Life Plans With Accidental Disability Riders: The Bottom Line
When it comes to choosing a company that offers accidental disability riders, you have plenty of options for the type of coverage you may need. It is always important to plan ahead, especially since disabilities aren’t always foreseen.
As long as you find the coverage that fits your budget, having accidental disability riders added to your policy will give you peace of mind knowing that you and your family are protected.
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