Life Insurance for the Older Workforce

Life insurance is an essential financial protection product you can offer to families, especially breadwinners and older persons. And yet, many people still don’t have life insurance. A 2021 survey said that almost half of American adults don’t have life insurance.

If you’re offering insurance services to middle-aged workers with group coverage, what benefits of additional coverage outside group insurance can you offer these clients?

Among older people, what illnesses usually occur that they need coverage for?

This article discusses the benefits of additional life or disability income insurance that financial advisors can offer to older workers and how Ash Brokerage’s tools can help advisors offer these services.

This article also lists the illnesses that commonly occur among older people and for which they need additional coverage.

The Benefits of Additional Life and Disability Income Insurance Outside Employer-Provided Coverage

Life and disability income insurance can help protect older people from unexpected circumstances like disability or death.

Numerous illnesses can affect the older workforce, including cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers. Insurance providers must consider these illnesses when offering life or disability income insurance to their clients.

As you offer your services to clients who belong to the older workforce, some of them will have group employer-provided insurance coverage. You can consider this good news when it comes to getting them covered.

But group insurance has its limits. For example, this type of insurance generally has limited death benefits, and workers can’t use it anymore once they leave the organization.

So when it comes to additional life insurance, the benefits you can offer to older workers include the following:

Tax-free life insurance payouts: When a person with life insurance dies, the lump sum death benefit their beneficiaries receive isn’t considered income for tax purposes.

Thus, the beneficiaries don’t need to report the money when filing their tax returns.

Coverage for chronic or terminal illnesses: You can offer riders to your clients in addition to the primary insurance policy.

For example, offering an accelerated benefit rider allows your client to access some or all of their death benefit under specific circumstances.

These situations include getting diagnosed with a terminal illness when the person insured is expected to live for less than 12 months.

Supplement for retirement savings: Offering whole, universal, or variable life insurance to your clients allows them to accumulate cash value aside from the death benefit.

The cash value can increase over time, so the policyholder can use this cash to cover expenses for their retirement.

The policyholder can also use this additional cash for other purposes, like buying a car or a house.

Coverage for final expenses: In 2021, the United States national median cost for a funeral with viewing and burial was reportedly $7,848. This amount can be a financial burden for many Americans with insufficient savings.

Fortunately, if your client has a life insurance policy, their beneficiaries can use the benefit to pay for burial expenses without needing to use credit or their savings.

Life insurance isn’t the only product you can offer to older workers. According to statistics, about 43% of people aged 40 will have a long-term disability upon turning 65.

Considering these figures, enrolling your clients in a disability insurance policy can help them mitigate losses arising from illnesses or accidents that may lead to a short- or long-term disability.

A benefit of disability insurance is that it can provide the life insured with income when they can no longer work due to an accident, illness, injury, or disability.

When the insured person can’t work due to these circumstances, disability income insurance can replace 45% to 65% of the person’s gross income.

You can offer this type of insurance to individuals who want to supplement their existing coverage or to those with no insurance at all.

Illnesses in Older Adults That Need Coverage

Older people, especially those over 85, will experience subtle or severe cognitive changes, sensory changes, and weakness. These changes often include cardiovascular disease, falling, and difficulty performing daily activities.

One study showed that adults in the United States aged 50 or older could experience the following conditions:

Hip fractures
Congestive heart failure
Myocardial infarction
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
Stroke
Cancer
Diabetes
Back pain
Arthritis
Hypertension

Researchers mentioned that the burden of these health conditions could account for nearly 1.5 million years of healthy life lost for middle-aged Americans and older.

Healthcare providers can utilize this information to guide interventions that aim to enhance the health of middle-aged and older adults.

Additionally, the researchers recommend shifting health-related resources and policies to match DALY (disability-adjusted life years) trends to improve the quality of life of older individuals.

Financial advisors or insurance providers can also use this information to create life insurance policies or modify existing ones to match financial and health trends affecting the older workforce.

If you’re a financial advisor needing a solution to offer disability or life insurance products, contact Ash Brokerage at 800-589-3000. Our team is willing to assist you with your insurance solution needs.