News

Three life insurance waiver Uniform Standards adopted in August became effective November 29th: amendments to two existing benefit feature standards--Waiver of Premium and Waiver of Monthly Deduction--and a new standard for Waiver of Surrender Charges for individual life insurance. This Weekly Tip will help familiarize filers with the key contents of these standards. 

The main feature added to these standards is expanding the definition of “qualifying events” beyond total disability. Each standard provides a new definition of “qualifying event” as follows:

“’Qualifying event’ means any of the following, as long as the event meets the requirements of this standard:

1. Diagnosis of limited life expectancy or life-threatening condition;
2. Diagnosis of cognitive impairment;
3. Assessment by qualified professional establishing inability to perform certain activities of daily living;
4. Receipt of care from a health care facility;
5. Disability other than total disability; or
6. Unemployment.”
7. These standards do not change the total disability benefit feature that companies can provide and now combine with other qualifying events to trigger the life insurance waiver benefits. This provides more flexibility to consumers. A filing company may provide multiple triggers for waiver benefits in a single form if desired.

Filers can now submit form filings incorporating the new qualifying benefit triggers. Section 3(A)(2) of each checklist details the qualifying events used to trigger the applicable benefit; the applicable checklists can be found on the Record Adopted Standards page. If your company already has a Compact-approved waiver benefit, please make sure to review the newly effective standards for future updates or new products.

If you have any questions regarding this Weekly Tip, please contact the Insurance Compact Office.