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Life Insurance:

a) Disability
b) Problems with U.S. Policies

When is disability not disability?

Mr. C. had been a driver of heavy earth-moving vehicles. He was involved in an accident and claimed form the disability clause in his insurance policy. The insurance company (Menorah) paid out for six years and thereafter refused to pay, stating that Mr. C. had made no effort to return to the work force.

Mr. C. took the case to court and claimed (a) that he was disabled to the level of 27% and therefore could no longer drive heavy vehicles and (b) his basic education did no allow him to do anything else. The court then defined disability as requiring ongoing proof. The mere fact that there had been initial disability was not sufficient. In addition, it found that Mr. C. had in fact engaged some physical activity after the accident and therefore rejected the claim.

Good to know : Many disability policies have a clause which defines disability as being unable to work in one's profession or job or in something similar or of a comparable level. There are more specific policies, e.g. for surgeons or dentists where the disability relates specifically to the profession. In other words, an accountant who loses fingers can still work in this field – not so a dentist or a surgeon çå"ç.

 

When is life insurance not life insurance?

Recently there have been reports of many American companies refusing to issue life insurance policies to clients who state that they plan to visit Israel in the near future. They base this refusal on the State Department travel warning regarding Israel (and many other countries). It is not clear whether a person who already has such a policy could have a problem with the cover but one would certainly not like to find out about this after the fact! We know of cases of people who informed their companies of a change of address (to Israel ) and who promptly received a letter of cancellation on their policy.

Good to do: If you have U.S. life polices, make sure that you get in writing that the policy covers "active and passive warfare" (i.e. Milium and, a tiyul in the Old City ) and, of course, that it covers act of terror.