Wednesday, 20 May 2009 09:03 | Author: Graham McKenzie |
Life insurance is an important part of planning for your future. If you have dependants or loved ones who rely on you for their financial well being then life insurance can offer you a peace of mind and some comfort knowing they will be taken care of after your death. Finding out you are HIV positive can be stressful enough but when you try to obtain a life insurance policy it can create more stress when you are rejected on the spot. There are way to protect your loved ones after you pass away, some insurance companies will offer burial costs to you but very seldom will you be offered lump sum payments.
by GrahamMcKenzie
Life insurance is an important part of planning for your future. If you have dependants or loved ones who rely on you for their financial well being then life insurance can offer you a peace of mind and some comfort knowing they will be taken care of after your death. Finding out you are HIV positive can be stressful enough but when you try to obtain a life insurance policy it can create more stress when you are rejected on the spot. There are way to protect your loved ones after you pass away, some insurance companies will offer burial costs to you but very seldom will you be offered lump sum payments.
You may have life insurance policies already in place and you should locate them and start reviewing them to see if they include any riders. Your employer may have a life insurance policy included in your employment package or you could have one that is linked to your home mortgage. Any existing policies should be kept active and be very careful not to allow them to terminate or lapse, upon doing so you may find that you cannot get them back with your HIV status.
The social security department should be contacted to find out what your death benefits are and who the beneficiaries are for those benefits. You can find out how the payments will be made and make any changes if necessary at this time.
You can speak to an attorney to have any questions you may have answered about social security benefits, other existing policies and beneficiaries.
Your employers human resource department can be extremely helpful in assisting with finding any available programs or life insurance policies that are part of their employment package. Several employers have a group life insurance policy program that is automatically extended to their employees and will require no pre qualification or underwriting to be accepted. The policies pay out a percentage of your wages to the beneficiaries you name on the policy at the time of your death. If you are not on this policy and it is available the human resource department will assist in getting you started.
If your job does not offer any type of life insurance policy with the employment benefit package you might consider finding a job that will. You could possibly earn less and you may not be doing what you were trained to do but having the peace of mind that your loved ones will be cared for is worth it.
An HIV AIDS case worker will be able to help you find programs that you would be qualified for if you express your desire to obtain life insurance. Many insurance companies are beginning to include policies to HIV positive people since the effectiveness of the AIDS medications are far better and create a much longer life for the individuals.
Here are guaranteed life insurance policies available through certain companies and they will insure anyone, even the terminally ill. The pay outs will be much less in most cases it will only cover the cost of a funeral and the premiums will be much higher than a standard policy.
About the Author:
Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator a leading South African Life Insurance and Life Cover portal. For tips on how to save on your life insurance visit our website.