What Are the Maximum Age Limits on Life Insurance?
The maximum age for attaining a life insurance cover is 85 years. Beyond this age, it will be a futile attempt to seek a life insurance quote even from highly rated insurance carriers. If you take up a permanent whole life insurance policy, your carrier will cover you throughout your lifetime if you keep paying your premiums. However, there are certain types of life insurance policies that are canceled once you reach their expiry age, in this case, 85 years. Once your life insurance policy is canceled, there will be no payment of benefits. It is therefore important to first determine whether there is an expiry age to a life insurance policy before taking one especially if you intend to keep it for a long time.
Types of life insurance coverage for the elderly
- Term Life Insurance
- Burial Insurance
- Guaranteed Life Insurance
- Graded Benefits Life Insurance
This is a temporary life insurance policy that offers coverage up to the age of 80 or 85. It is the simplest and least expensive type of life insurance coverage. However, if you live beyond the policy's expiry age, you will not be able to renew it. The type of term insurance you take therefore depends on your age. There are basically two types of term life insurance policies: level term life and annual renewable term. The latter type is where you renew your policy every year up to the age of 85. After this age, the carrier will cancel the term policy, and you will not be able to take up any other type of life insurance coverage. A level term life insurance policy can be a 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30-year policy, up to the age of 85. For example, if you are currently 70 years old and you are seeking to renew your policy, your carrier will most likely only permit you to take a 10-year or 15-year term policy. This will cover you to the insurance expiry age. To get rid of the age limits associated with a term life insurance, you can convert the policy to a permanent one such as a burial insurance coverage.
This is a permanent life insurance policy that is meant to take care of burial costs. As a permanent insurance policy, you remain covered throughout your entire life. This means that you will not have to renew your policy or worry about increases in premium. This is a guaranteed insurance coverage that only requires of you to pay your premiums for it to remain active. However, the maximum age to take up this life insurance policy is 85 years, with a minimum of 50 years. The worth of most of these types of coverage is between $2,500 and $50,000. This type of life insurance policy is taken by seniors who do not want to burden their families with burial expenses once they pass away.
If you have serious health problems that have disqualified you from obtaining life insurance coverage, you can opt for a guaranteed life insurance. This is because you will not need to go through a medical exam to qualify for this policy. Since it is a permanent whole life policy, you are guaranteed of a lifetime insurance coverage with level premiums. This means you will not have to deal with sudden increases in your premiums as long as you keep paying them. Because the policy is granted without a medical exam, its carries more risks, and this is seen from the high premiums that are charged on the policy. This type of life insurance policy also has graded benefits, which are explained below.
This type of life insurance coverage is usually given to people whose health conditions are viewed as risky by a carrier. A graded policy means that the benefits associated with it are only fully paid after some years, usually 2-3 years. If you die in the first year, your insurer will only pay your beneficiaries a percentage of the benefit or the amount that was paid into the coverage. If you pass away in the second year, a higher percentage will be paid out. After the second year, your beneficiaries will receive the full death benefits. For example, say you have qualified for a $10,000 life insurance policy at the age of 83. If you pass away in the first year, your carrier may only pay $4,000 to your beneficiaries. If you die within the second year, your beneficiaries may receive $6,000. After year two, the full face amount will be paid to your beneficiaries.
Most elderly life insurance policies are classified as simplified issues. This means that no medical exam is required before the policy is granted. A carrier will simply ask an applicant about their health conditions, and verify the answers through a physical exam or a medical history. Depending on the answers given, the insurer will determine the type of policy to offer and how much the premiums will cost.
If you are a senior or an elderly person, it is important to decide before the age of 85 what type of life insurance policy to take. Afterward, you can ask for quotes and policies from different insurers before choosing one for your life insurance.