Group Life Insurance Benefits

Article Licenses: unknown
Advisor Licenses:

Compliant content provided by Adviceon® Media for educational purposes only.

Group Life Insurance Benefits

When defining solutions that truly fit your business needs we will look at:

– Stronger service that works with you. We work with you to reach your service requirements.

– Fitting your flexible needs. Regardless of your group’s size—from five to thousands—we can design a benefits plan that fits.

The following areas are generally considered in a benefit plan relating to Group Life Insurance.

Employee Basic Life

Basic life insurance pays a contract-specified amount in the event of the death of an employee from any cause. Premiums paid by the employer on behalf of the employee are a taxable benefit; however, benefits received are non-taxable. Some of the main features of a basic group life plan are:

Benefit Schedule: The amount of coverage is generally based on either the employee’s earnings or salary (e.g. 1 x salary, 2 x salary, etc. ) or a flat amount from  $25,000 to $500,000.

Non-Evidence Maximum (NEM):  This is the minimum amount of coverage for which all employees are eligible (subject to income requirements). This is a great benefit for employees who may not qualify for an individual life insurance policy.

Waiver of Premium Continuance of Life Insurance coverage while premiums are waived is generally available to employees age 65 or younger, under the regular care of a physician, who become totally and permanently disabled for a period, typically 4 months.

Waiver of Premium Conversion Privilege If a plan is to terminate when an employed no longer qualifies for coverage as an employee, the conversion privilege allows the policy to be convertible without medical evidence to a permanent plan owned by the insured according to plan specifics.

Dependent Basic Life

Dependent Basic Life is a flat coverage offered to the spouse and dependent children of an employee; the spouse’s coverage is generally higher than that available for children for whom it becomes effective at live birth or 14 days after birth and continues until the child is 21 years of age (25 years if in full-time attendance at school or university).

Employers can share paying the premium, or have employees entirely pay; the benefit is payable to the covered plan member upon the death of the dependent.

Benefit Amount:  Generally $5,000 is the face amount of coverage for a spouse; $2,500 per a dependent child; or $10,000 for a spouse and $5,000 per dependent child; while higher amounts may be available.

Employee (and Dependent) Optional Life Benefit

This benefit allows employees and sometime the spouse and/or the children (referred to as Dependent Optional Life); to supplement and pay for more life insurance coverage over that which is provided by their benefit plan (some as high as an extra $1,000,000). Medical evidence is required and coverage usually ceases at age 65 or the employee’s retirement.

Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD& D)

This benefit provides protection where an employed plan member incurs a loss, or loss of use of: life, limb, sight, hearing, and/or speech due to an accidental injury (usually on a flat amount of coverage e.g. $25,000, $50,000, $100,000 or as a multiple of salary, e.g. 1 x salary, 2 x salary).  This benefit may also be referred to as “double indemnity insurance” as it doubles the benefit for plan members who die as a result of an accident. 24-hour coverage is common covering accidents that occur both on and off the job; though coverage can be provided on a 24-hour non-occupational basis.
AD & D frequently covers both “loss”(meaning an actual severance) and “loss of use”(meaning total and irrecoverable loss of use).

The Advisor and Manulife Securities Incorporated, ("Manulife Securities") do not make any representation that the information in any linked site is accurate and will not accept any responsibility or liability for any inaccuracies in the information not maintained by them, such as linked sites. Any opinion or advice expressed in a linked site should not be construed as the opinion or advice of the advisor or Manulife Securities. The information in this communication is subject to change without notice.

This publication contains opinions of the writer and may not reflect opinions of the Advisor and Manulife Securities Incorporated, the information contained herein was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, no representation, or warranty, express or implied, is made by the writer, Manulife Securities or any other person as to its accuracy, completeness or correctness. This publication is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities. The securities discussed in this publication may not be eligible for sale in some jurisdictions. If you are not a Canadian resident, this report should not have been delivered to you. This publication is not meant to provide legal or account advice. As each situation is different you should consult your own professional Advisors for advice based on your specific circumstances.