Accelerated Death Benefit Rider

by masurkar » Fri May 29, 2009 08:28 pm

I am in the process of buying a term life insurance policy and happened to see that this rider is offered free of cost. The agent advised me not to take the rider since it can impact eligibility for govt programs and also create tax consequences. He also mentioned that the death benefit is reduced by 10 to 15% if the rider is ever exercised. Also it carries administrative costs at the time of making the claim.

So I am trying to understand, who is an ideal candidate for this rider.

Does anyone here have any experience with this? I am trying to weigh the pros and cons on taking such a rider.

Total Comments: 13

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 05:05 pm Post Subject:

I tend to agree with the logic presented by Teacher, adding accelerated death benefit can be useful if used wisely.


It's not "ADDED" it just comes with most policies at least with the companies I do business with.

Does anyone know of any company that charges premium for this?

InsTeacher's case studies are compelling and reasons for using this,...but,...many times,... experimental procedures fail.,..the person dies anyway,...and Mama and the kids are left without enough money.

In my professional opinion I view the Accelerated Benefits Rider as sizzle over substance and I've sold many policies that have this build into the contract.

It's hard to have a good thread war with this topic because it's just agent opinion, we're not disputing any insurance facts.

We NEED a better THREAD WAR topic!

This one is boring.

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 03:46 am Post Subject:

Gary, it's hard to argue with you when you're (dammit!!) typically right. To address your questions:

It's not "ADDED" it just comes with most policies at least with the companies I do business with.



Yup. Most every contract I've seen in the past 10 years include it as a provision in the contract without the need to add it as a rider. I've seen a handful only that require it be added, and those are not the high-end carriers by any means.

Does anyone know of any company that charges premium for this?



No. Not even 20 years ago.

InsTeacher's case studies are compelling and reasons for using this,...but,...many times,... experimental procedures fail.,..the person dies anyway,...and Mama and the kids are left without enough money.



Again (arghhhhh!!) I have to agree. I have seen far more cases of "ya shouldn't have done this" compared to the miracles/heart transplant situations I discussed in my previous post.

Again- I state that this PROVISION, if used, should be used (didn't I say this the first time?) JUDICIOUSLY.

The heart transplant? Absolutely. The woman with the cancer cure? This was a case of our FDA not approving the drug, whatever it was, for use in this country yet, and the insured had to go out of the country to get the treatment.

InsTeacher 8)

Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 07:27 pm Post Subject: Accelerated Death Benefits

We Have Metlife And We Were Told That Because We Live In New Jersey We Don't Have The Option To Add It To Our Policy That We Now Have. I Need To Know The Law On Accelerated Death Benefits In New Jersey. Thank You For Any Information You Can Give. Thank You, Liz

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