What Is Accidental Death? Do I Need It?

The accidental death benefit is an additional rider you can add to a life insurance policy when you purchase the policy.  It is typically offered on term life insurance plans. For an additional fee, this rider can provide coverage that pays an additional death benefit if the insured dies as the result of an accident. This rider is also known as or called double indemnity.

In a perfect scenario, we’d all live long, natural lives. The very reason for the necessity of life insurance policies is death; we all know the storybook life into old age isn’t possible for everyone. This additional benefit for life insurance can really come in handy for a policyholder’s family when a tragedy occurs.

How an Accidental Death Benefit Works?

An accidental death benefit rider allows for an additional payment if the policyholder dies in an accident — i.e., not of natural causes. In this unfortunate situation, if a policyholder dies up to a year after the initial incident, as long as the death is due to the accident itself, this rider will take effect.

This is a purely optional plan that’s part of an existing life insurance policy. Not everyone with a policy needs to opt for it. We typically encourage families with specific employment or travel situations to apply for this rider.

What carriers offer accident death benefit rider?

Here are a few of our carriers that offer an accidental death benefit rider to a term policy.

• Prudential
• Protective
• Mutual of Omaha
• Transamerica
• AIG
• Ameritas
• Sagicor
• Foresters

How may an insurance company classify this benefit?

The classification includes anything you’d consider a typical accident — a car accident is one of the most common classifications. There are so many scenarios in which a person can sustain life-ending injuries in an accident. We find that this rider is most commonly used by those in professions that require operating have machinery, who frequently commute or transport by car, etc. As you likely know, the chances of accidental death are much greater for those working in high-risk professions than people with a normal office gig. Many of the policies we work with are created for people in high-risk professions, but this isn’t always the case.

The double indemnity death benefit

The accidental death benefit is double indemnity.  If you die due to an accident the policy will pay double the death benefit.  So if you have a $250,000 term policy and your cause of death is ruled an accidental death the policy would pay out the $250,000 death benefit plus the additional $250,000 for the rider totaling $500,000.

The cost to add the rider to your policy

We have provided a sample quote below from Prudential for a 43-year-old Female non-tobacco at a preferred best rate class.

We’d love to talk to you! We’ve written countless riders of this kind, and can give you some options as to which scenario would work best with your existing plan — or a new plan! Let’s chat today.