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Term Insurance 2592 views February 3, 2018
There is no event more certain than death. Add to the pain and agony of losing a loved one, the absurdities of life lend a feeling of financial insecurity proportional to the loss of income, thus, making the family’s future more uncertain. Having a term plan insurance in place ensures financial protection in the event of sudden demise.
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As opposed to most other monetary schemes and policies, term insurance is the simplest and most basic financial product that offers indemnity at nominal prices. With multiple insurance companies offering a multitude of term insurance plans in India, choosing the best term insurance plan that will meet the dependents’ needs may be difficult. The advent of insurance aggregator portals coupled with the details provided by each company on its website has now made it possible for potential customers to compare term insurance plans online and make an informed choice regarding the necessary term insurance cover.
Though there are many factors that govern the choice of term policy including premium amount, age, policy term, and sum assured, choosing the best term insurance plan involves term insurance comparison based on other inherent aspects like term insurance claim settlement ratio and rider benefits.
This ratio indicates the number of death claims that have been settled by any insurance company in response to the total number of death claims made by their policyholders’ dependents in any given fiscal year. These death claims may arise from all kinds of life insurance policies sold by the insurer. Knowing the claim settlement ratio of an insurer before settling for any of its life insurance policy is important as it helps to understand the efficiency with which the insurer processes life insurance claims. A term insurance cover is a formal assurance of a predetermined sum assured to the family of the life insured, and hence, the insurer with a higher term insurance claim settlement ratio must be preferred.
Most term insurance plans in India are pure protection products that come with innate death benefits and cover the risk of death of the policyholders during the entire term policy. However, there are some term insurance policies that offer various additional benefits beyond the core benefit of life cover. Also referred to as rider or rider benefits, some of the best term life insurance policies offer them to their customers. However, these quantum and kinds of rider benefits vary according to the terms and conditions of each company and subject to different pricing.
While some term plan insurance policies are available with the rider benefits embedded in them, there are others that require additional payment premium amount for the riders to be included in the policy. Some of the best term life insurance plans offer common riders to their prospective customers like accidental death benefit rider, accelerated death benefit rider, critical illness benefit rider and premium waiver rider.
Details published in the IRDA Claim Settlement Report 2016-17 highlight the details of claim settlements made by various insurance companies. The following table lists the claim settlement ratios of some of the best term insurance plans, till March 31, 2017, operating in the market.
Name of the Insurer | Number of Death Claims Received | Number of Death Claims Paid | Claim Settlement Ratio | Percentage of Claims Pending |
---|---|---|---|---|
LIC | 755,901 | 742,243 | 98.31% | 0.50% |
Max Life | 9,223 | 8,804 | 97.81% | 0.10% |
HDFC Standard | 12,189 | 11,031 | 97.62% | 2.30% |
Aegon Life | 460 | 413 | 97.11% | 0.20% |
SBI Life | 14,876 | 13,303 | 96.69% | 3.20% |
Though most term insurance plans in India conform to the “Value for Money” idea, there are some that offer its customers the advantage of certain supplementary benefits referred to as “Riders”. The following table compares term insurance plans corresponding to the riders that customers may avail either with or without making any additional payment.
Term Insurance Plan | Entry Age (in yrs) | Cover Available Till Age (in yrs) | Accidental Death Benefit Rider | Accelerated Death Benefit Rider | Critical Illness Benefit Rider | Waiver of Premium Rider |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LIC E-term Plan | 18-60 | 70 | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Max Life Online Term Plan Plus | 18-60 | 84 | Paid | NA | Paid | Included |
HDFC Life click2Protect Plus | 18-65 | 74 | Paid | NA | Available Free | Available Free |
Aegon Life iterm Plan | 18-65 | 100 | Paid | Free of Cost | NA | Paid |
SBI Life eShield Plan | 18-65 | 64 | Paid | NA | NA | NA |
The “ifs” and the “buts” make up for a major part of our lives. The mystery of the events surrounding us coupled with their innate contradictions and correlations adds to the fragility of life, thus, compelling the need to protect our loved ones from any unwarranted risk. Buying term insurance helps protect and preserve against uncertain times and trying situations stemming from lack of money.