OneAmerica® introduces living benefit for whole life policies to help pay for chronic and terminal illnesses

The American United Life Insurance Company® (AUL), a OneAmerica company, today announced significant enhancements to its whole life insurance offerings that will enable policyholders to access the death benefit of their policies during life, if needed, to help cover the costs of chronic or terminal illness.

Whole life products offer policyholders lifetime protection that comes with the ability to accumulate cash value within the policy. AUL’s addition of chronic and terminal illness riders will allow a policyholder to accelerate the death benefit in the event of a qualifying illness and access the cash value of the policy to cover medical expenses, receive in-home care, make needed modifications to a home or to use for any other purposes.

Like a death benefit, chronic and terminal illness benefits will be paid income-tax free to the policyholder. Beginning this month, the riders are automatically included with most AUL whole life policies at no cost to policyholders.

“It is difficult, if not impossible, to know when you and your family will need financial protection,” said Mark Wilkerson, president of individual life and financial services. “With these riders now added to our whole life policies, our clients will have more freedom and control in these unforeseen situations.”

With the chronic and terminal illness riders, the policyholder decides how much of the policy death benefit to accelerate, subject to IRS and percentage limits. The amount received results in a lien against the policy – which reduces the benefit amount received by their designated beneficiaries at the time of death (or earlier via policy termination). Any amount not accelerated, minus applicable lien charges, is left to beneficiaries in the form of a death benefit.

A policyholder can qualify for accelerated benefits by being unable to perform at least two activities of daily living (from a specified list) such as bathing or dressing, suffering a severe cognitive impairment or being certified by a licensed health care practitioner as having an illness that is expected to result in death within 12 months.

"There are already many reasons for clients to be attracted to whole life insurance," added Wilkerson. "These additional features make our whole life products even more dynamic and relevant in addressing a client's needs."

About AUL

American United Life Insurance Company® (AUL) is the founding member of OneAmerica® and is focused on providing a strong portfolio of products for individuals, families and businesses. AUL provides local service through a national network of experienced professionals utilizing an extensive menu of financial products, including retirement plan products and services, life insurance, annuities and employee benefit plan products. The company helps consumers prepare for tomorrow by helping to protect their financial futures.

About OneAmerica

OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc. (www.oneamerica.com), headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., has companies that can trace their solid foundations back more than 135 years in the insurance and financial services marketplace.

OneAmerica’s nationwide network of companies offers a variety of products to serve the financial needs of their policyholders and other clients. These products include retirement plan products and services; individual life insurance, annuities, long-term care solutions and employee benefit plan products. The goal of OneAmerica is to blend the strengths of each company to achieve greater collective results.

The products of the OneAmerica companies are distributed through a network of employees, agents, brokers and other distribution sources that are committed to increasing value to our policyholders by helping them prepare to meet their financial goals.

Follow OneAmerica on Twitter at @OneAmericaNews.

Whole life policy form series L59, Chronic Illness Rider LR-230 and Terminal Illness Rider LR-229 may not be available in all states. Not all insureds may be eligible for these riders due to age and/or underwriting issues. Neither AUL or its representatives provide tax or legal advice. For answers to specific questions and before making any decisions, please consult a qualified attorney or tax advisor.