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Where insurance designs are concerned, certain insurance product developers are continuing to push the envelope, despite the sluggish economy. Here are few recent examples from various lines of insurance:
IFS Financial Services Inc., has debuted a single premium deferred annuity that offers consumers several choices in guarantee interest periods.
Called MultiMax Annuity, the product offers fixed interest guarantee period options of three, five, seven, or 10 years. By contrast, many other FAs offer only one guarantee interest rate period.
The policy also includes an enhanced earnings benefit. More commonly seen in variable annuities, this feature pays an extra amount, over the base policy death benefit, to beneficiaries. Depending on age of the owner, the extra amount can be up to 40% of contract earnings, subject to a maximum benefit of 100% of the net premium payment.
Distribution is targeted for financial institutions. The issuing company is Western-Southern Life Assurance Company, the Cincinnati, Ohio parent of IFS.
New York Life Insurance Company has unveiled a long term care policy that offers an inflation rider option pegged to the Urban Consumer Price Index.
Called the "benefit increase option rider," the feature is designed to ensure that LTC policy benefits keep pace with fluctuations in the costs of foods and services, based on the CPI-U, says New York Life. The provision "locks" the premium for future benefit increase offers at the clients original age.
The patent-pending feature is part of LTCSelect Premier, the companys newest LTC policy.
Inflation features in many other LTC policies are "fixed," meaning they require that policy benefits be increased by a fixed percentage every year, says New York Life. The new CPI-U option can be a more accurate measure of the costs of care that policyholders may need to bear in the future, the company contends.
The LTCSelect Premier policy also includes care coordination, informal caregiver training, facility care, worldwide coverage, waiver of premium, restoration of benefits, waiting period payback, alternate plan of care, and bed-hold reservation features. It covers home and community care, and also nursing home and assisted living facility care.
The Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company, New York, has launched a deferred variable annuity with a "variable payments to age 100″ annuitization option.
