How will the COVID-19 Vaccine Affect my Critical/Chronic Illness Benefits Claim or Coverage?
Over the past few weeks, I have analyzed how the COVID-19 vaccine could affect a life insurance company’s decision to pay out under a regular life insurance policy and an accidental death and dismemberment policy. You can find those posts here:
Life: Will the COVID-19 Vaccine Affect My Life Insurance Coverage?
AD&D: Will the COVID-19 Vaccine Affect my Accidental Death and Dismemberment Coverage/Claim?
This week, I’m taking a look at how the COVID-19 vaccine can affect a critical or chronic illness claim or policy. Similar to AD&D policies, critical and chronic illness benefits are generally an additional benefit tacked onto an existing life policy. However, they are designed to cover a very specific and narrow subset of losses making it very difficult to succeed on a claim for benefits without certain knowledge and expertise. As a result, it is a legitimate concern for any insured person to have that the COVID-19 vaccine could negate any claims for critical or chronic illness if the illness could be linked to the vaccine.
Generally speaking, critical or chronic illness policies or riders require that the insured suffers a loss that falls within the company’s definitions of critical illness or chronic illness AND is not specifically excluded under the policy. As of now, COVID-19 and the vaccines being offered are still a very novel concept for the life insurance world. As a result, I have not seen widespread provisions being added to policies specifically excluding losses related to COVID-19 or the vaccine. These types of exclusions from coverage will likely come with time following extensive litigation, and are certainly something that future insureds should be aware of moving forward. However, it certainly isn’t an imminent concern as of now.
With that being said, if an insurance company has denied your claim for critical illness, chronic illness, accidental death or dismemberment, or life insurance for COVID-19 related reasons, get in touch with an experienced life insurance attorney as soon as possible. You have a right to fight back!
