Life insurance covers suicide under certain conditions.
For what it’s worth, life insurance takes care of so many aspects of our lives, including helping us to save in case of emergencies.
It has other benefits and beneficiary payouts at the end of it all.
However, you can add extra clauses to your coverage just like the suicide coverage.
So, when purchasing your insurance coverage, make sure you use the company that has everything you need and covers you the right way.
No one prays for suicide, reason why most people overlook it in their insurance coverage.
But with this article, you’ll understand how life insurance coverage can also cover you in case of a sad event like suicide.
The suicide clause
Your life insurance coverage will promise to protect you in the event of suicide, but not when it happens immediately after you buy your coverage.
That means if a policyholder commits suicide a year after purchasing his insurance, the family will not get any benefits from the insurance company.
The reason is to discourage people who may decide to get a life insurance coverage after planning to kill themselves intentionally.
So, a suicide clause helps the company to investigate the claims behind your need to purchase suicide coverage.
At this point, the provider may deny you coverage if they think you plan on doing something funny.
Perhaps, if you decide to change your policy from maybe temporary coverage to permanent coverage, the suicide clause will start all over again from the beginning.
How does life insurance cover suicide?
When you purchase your coverage from your preferred insurance company, you will find out that there is suicide coverage on your policy.
Generally, the suicide coverage kicks in after two to three years of purchase and not before that.
This is how your insurance company ensures you’re not planning to kill yourself anytime soon.
This suicide clause also helps to protect the insurer insurance provider from paying out benefits to people who registered with fraudulent information.
Again, It helps them to ensure the policyholder did not buy the coverage to empower them to take their lives.
After the investigation and the company finds out all the information was genuine after two years, they go ahead to pay the beneficiary benefits to the policyholder’s loved ones.
How does an insurance company find out about a policyholder’s suicide?
Policyholder family members always file a claim when their loved ones commit suicide.
Then, the insurance company requests the death certificate to find out about the incident and the surrounding circumstances.
If all of these do not correspond with the policy and the circumstances seem questionable, the insurance company may decide to carry out further investigations and include an autopsy from a different Medical Examiner.
The investigation process can delay the payout to the policyholder’s loved ones who committed suicide.
After receiving all the information and finding out that the policyholder committed suicide, the insurance company releases the beneficiary benefits to the loved ones.
What type of coverage has a suicide clause?
Life insurance comes in different types yet only the selected few come with the suicide clause policy.
Term life insurance
The term life insurance coverage always comes with a suicide clause, and it duly pays out to the loved ones so long the suicide did not happen within the first two years of buying the policy.
However, if the policyholder eventually commits suicide before the end of the two-year clause, the loved ones may only get the premiums back but no benefits.
Whole life insurance
A whole life insurance policy has a different way of handling suicide policy.
For the whole life coverage, the loved ones may only receive the cash value from the policy.
If the policyholder commits suicide after two years of their policy, the loved ones receive the full beneficiary benefits.
Can group life insurance cover suicide?
In this case, the group life insurance benefits come with no restrictions.
Firstly, group life insurance is a kind of insurance plan that comes from an employer. the employer paid for the plan for all the employees in the company or organization.
However, if an employee dies on the job the loved ones will receive full beneficiary benefits from the employer.
Are there exclusions to this policy?
While it is true that insurance providers look out for their policyholders, they equally watch their backs and protect themselves from being exploited.
Having said this, they would not cover some kinds of incidents. The company washes its hands off if it was not clear enough that the policyholder committed suicide.
For example, if a policyholder overdosed on drugs or passed away in some dangerous and illegal way, the insurance company will not respond positively in terms of a claim. Except investigation proves that it was not intentional.
Nevertheless, some other eventualities will not need any form of contest from the insurance provider.
An example is overdosing on a prescribed drug by accident, mental health issues, and euthanasia.
Some payable and non-payable suicide incidents are not a general policy for all insurance providers. Insurance providers decide what they choose to cover in their policies.
So, while buying for a policy, understand all they offer and what is against the company rules.
Furthermore, your information gives you an advantage when you or your loved ones want to file for claims.
It is more about being honest to yourself and your insurance providers when you have a history of drug and substance abuse, pre-existing medical conditions, mental health challenges, and former and current prescribed drugs.
When you come clean to the provider, it will help you to make strong claims if the opportunity presents itself.
Suicide helpline
Mental health challenges like depression may drive one to accommodate suicidal thoughts. This is a struggle that affects a large number of people all over the world. So, if you are struggling, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline immediately or call 1-800-273-8255 for professional help.
