OREANDA-NEWS. July 12, 2013. Prudential’s Individual Life Insurance business is rolling out an optional rider on its PruLife Universal Protector policy, at an additional cost, that lets consumers use the death benefit to cover costs associated with a chronic or terminal illness.

A similar rider was first introduced by The Hartford’s individual life insurance business, which was acquired by Prudential early this year. “The introduction of the BenefitAccess rider on our guaranteed universal life product marks a significant milestone in the process of integrating The Hartford and Prudential’s individual life businesses,” said Mark Hug, Executive Vice President, Product and Marketing, Prudential Individual Life Insurance. “We anticipate making it available on more policies as we continue to refine the overall product portfolio.”

Consumers are looking for additional benefits from life insurance, particularly those that address financial hardships that can surface in the course of a lifetime. "The rider takes an innovative approach to protecting people from the financial impact of a chronic illness and has been well received in the marketplace over the last several years, according to Hug. In fact, the system that supports it has been patented. “One of the distinctions between BenefitAccess and a long-term care rider is that it pays based on a condition, not for specific care of a condition,” says Hug.

Here is how it works: Once the claim criteria is satisfied, a policyholder can advance the death benefit and use the money for expenses such as reimbursing family members for care, paying someone to help at home, in a facility or elsewhere. “A unique aspect of the benefit is that it can provide for expenses unrelated to care like home modifications, income replacement, household chores or mortgage payments for example,” added Hug.

If you qualify under the terms and conditions of the rider, you can access your death benefit if you become chronically or terminally ill. For a chronic illness, a licensed health care practitioner would need to certify that the insured is unable to perform at least two activities of daily living for a period of at least 90 days or if supervision is required to protect them from threats to their health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment. The physician must also certify that the insured is unlikely to recover from the illness, which is often the case for those who have suffered a heart attack, stroke or been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. For a terminal illness, a licensed healthcare practitioner would need to certify that the insured has a medical condition that is reasonably expected to result in his/her death in six months or less.

“The combination of PruLife Universal Life Protector with BenefitAccess provides a product that can help consumers address their life insurance, chronic illness, and terminal illness protection needs–with one policy,” said Hug.

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