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if mosdos hatorah [yeshivos, bais yaakovs, shuls, etc] and individuals would include term insurance in their salary package, I think there would be a lot less charity campaigns for almonos and yesomim. how can we, the tzibur, get this inexpensive yet vital benefit implemented?
Term life insurance is very inexpensive to purchase by individuals even if they don’t receive it as part of a benefit package from their work. A half a million dollar policy only cost a couple hundred dollars a year or so.
Ahavas,
Term insurance is exactly that, it only works for 10, 15, or 20 years and it gets more expensive the older a person is so a 50 year old rebbe with 20 years of experience costs more than a 30 year old just starting out and it’s not monetarily feasible
Additionally people hope to live longer than 10-20 years
Not sure why you think life insurance is an “inexpensive” benefit to offer. It might be for a cheder or yeshiva katanah most of whose teachers/assistants are drawn from a younger and healthier demographic, Conversely, some of the yeshivos, kolels etc. employ fairly large numbers of older rebbeim (and moros in some BY’s) where even term insurance premiums may be more costly. Perhaps there could be some centralized purchasing entitiy where the risk pool would be larger and the underwriting for a more age-diverse demographic would lead to lower premiums. Another option used by some secular groups is to offer a “cafeteria program” of benefits where professional employees and staff can choose from a menu of options, including insurance within a given dollar range. In some cases, there are benefits to opting for insurance in lieu of direct salary dollars but each individual case is different and thus the cafeteria plans offer more flexibility. I’m sure we have some CR readers who are more knowledgeable about life insurance and can provide more informed advice.
start a charity campaign
Coffee Addict: You’re describing “Level Term” policies. Those are set for somewhere between 5 and 30 years, depending on the policy. There’s also another product called “Annual Renewable Term” that you can keep for much longer. In New York you can keep an Annual Renewable Term policy from when you get it at whatever age until age 80. In most other states you can keep it until age 95.
Joe,
those policies are exorbitant with regards to pricing when you hit a certain age and it’s a lot easier to get level term because insurance companies don’t have to hold you for more than 20 years
CA: I’ve found Annual Renewable Term policies that were, in fact, less expensive than the popular standard Level Term (10, 20 years) policies.
The insurance companies use the same underwriting policies to offer ART as LT. If you can get one you can get the other.
Instead of worrying how to marry off our children, try worrying how they will manage if the unthinkable happens & these children become yesomim.
How are we, the community, expected to support all these families when so many of us aren’t working? And WHY, if we can’t put food on the table, can’t pay rent or mortgage, are we expected to contribute? These cases are tragic, but quite honestly, I am disturbed by repetitive ads for this Rebbetzin’s unmarried children or that melamed’s almoneh. What can we do if we don’t have anything to spare? We can’t be guilted into giving what we don’t have.
If Yeshivas and other employers can’t or won’t contribute towards life insurance policies, and if the parents can’t pay premiums, how about forgetting lavish dinners and concerts, and get donors to give to a universal life insurance fund.
Another thing. Every week in AMI & elsewhere we see ads for frum yungermen who have achieved great success in selling insurance. To whom? To Rebbes in Yeshiva ? To Mashgichim or supermarket cashiers? I’d like to think that these insurance companies and Platinum Salesmen are contributing to help ordinary community members afford policies that will protect their families if the unthinkable happens.
All these flowery descriptions of “special people”, “devoted melamdim”, “pillars of chesed” & my personal favorite, “we owe it to them to help their families” doesn’t make it possible for us to support them. I wish we could, but we are struggling too.
Please… spend $5 a week (it may be less!) on life insurance. These wonderful people didn’t expect to die! They didn’t prepare. Learn from their mistakes, & may we never need it, but have it anyway. It buys peace of mind.
Why limit it to just life insurance why not also provide housing and food also.. Most Yeshivas are on a very tight budget and can’t afford the extra $5.00 per week per employee of additional expense. Most people are on a tight budget and given the option would rather forgo the insurance for more food or clothing. Even with insurance you will be surprised how soon they blow through it.
There was a campaign that started about 15 years ago that addressed this exact issue. Someone was rightly frustrated by the $ donated by all these tragic campaigns that could have gone instead to paying life insurance policies. The amount raised in one campaign could have paid for thousands of polices (with much more dignity too).
Keep in mind that while all these deaths are tragic, not all campaigns are equal. If an 80-year-old woman passes away after all children have been married off, it may be sad but may not warrant a campaign to support her husband who never had a job.Alos keep in mind that you can buy 30-year policies when a person is young that should last until a person is old enough that his expenses will be less. I bought a 30-year policy when I was in my thirties for $40 a month for a $500,000 policy.
Joe
We’re those ARTs cheaper on the long run?
As some have hinted here, life insurance is not a new invention, and should be a no-brainer for any family.
On the other side, torah migna u’matzla, and one need only study Torah, and not waste time over trivialities like working, education, or life insurance. Besides, HKBH decides everything, and all income has already been determined on Rosh Hashanah, so what we do on earth has no influence on what already has been decided.Some people are adept at playing each side, all depending on who the adversary is. The excuses to explain both sides simultaneously are all quite creative, but are nonsense.
CA, in the long run it was almost exactly even. The Level Term policies obviously charged the same amount every year for the term of the policy. The ART increased most years (some years were the same premium as the previous year.) The Level Term policies cost more in the first number of years in the policy but cost less in last few years of the policy. But if you counted all the premiums cumulatively for all the years of the Level Term policy it equalled about the same for the same number of years with the ART policy.
Well, I read these 14 posts and it is time for a reality check.
If Yeshivos are behind on payroll, which is very common, how can they be trusted to make life insurance premium payments?
We would soon see staff receiving notifications that their policies were canceled for non-payment.
In October I was at the pharmacy in the nearby city. A rebbi at the local yeshiva was attempting to pick up some medication for his family member. The pharmacy clerk said to him that the insurance declined the prescription. I motioned to the pharmacist to put it on my bill and give out the medicine.
When I got to my office I called the President of the Yeshiva Board (a friend of mine) and asked what’s going on? He said he;d investigate and get back to me.
It seems the bookkeeper was paying the health insurance bill just before the cancellation date of the end of the second month (Bill due Jan 1 can be paid by Feb 29 without policy being cancelled) but didn’t know that the Prescription component had coverage lapse when the bill was 30 days past due.Yeshivos regularly struggle to pay bills, a vendor might wait to be paid for paper, pencils, cleaning supplies, etc. But insurance companies are quick to cancel past due policies.
CTlawyer,
I occasionally work for a broker in data entry and there is a certain school that does have a policy for their faculty and they pay albeit a month or two late and they keep their policy
It is extremely irresponsible not to have life insurance if you have obligations (such as a mortgage) that will continue after your death, or if you have minor children who depend on your income. Group term insurance is less expensive than individual policies and every employer should offer them.
Perhaps if all the appeals were for only those who are Rabbeim in schools this discussion would be more on target. Notice that unfortunately the tzedkah appeals are across the board of the entire community. Perhaps a better solution going forward would be an initiative to make available subsidized plans for the Jewish community. Those wealthier members of the community would probably not apply or we could ask them to donate toward the full cost. If you add up the funds raised from just a few of the appeals you will see that they add up to several million dollars. That could better be spent toward subsidizing such a program and would also encourage more people in our communities in taking the trouble to get a policy. My guess is that there are many out there who have not gotten insurance simply bec. they never took the time to sign up for it. It becomes one of those things that are “yeah I guess its important but I will do it one day”
CT Lawyer flags a related but critical issue that applies across ALL types of insurance. In these periods of financial stress on insurance companies, whether from claims related to life and health as well as property and casualty lines including storms, fires, business interruption etc. they seem even less forgiving regarding “LATE” payments for premiums and grace periods which may be as short as 15 days under some policies. They seem to be looking for any outs to cancel “out of market” policies and a late payment gives them the option to do so. Relying on third parties or brokers to make payments is a risk you need to consider and monitor payments carefully. For large employers, it may not be such a big issue but for smaller employers and those with challenging finances, its a disaster waiting to happen.
Gadol: The CARES act recently passed mandates that insurance companies permit late payments without interruption in coverage during this pandemic.
Reb Yosef: Very helpful point. Does the CARE Act provision for deferring premiums with no penalty cover ALL forms of insurance and if so, for how long? I know that a number of insurance companies have offered to allow up to 60 or 90 day grace periods but I wasn’t aware that the statute mandated a blanket deferral for all life, health and P&C lines of coverage. Hopefully the statutory language is fairly broad and does not require individuals to affirmatively seek relief and demonstrate they have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
P.S. A number of auto insurance companies are reducing coverage premiums for 2-3 months since most of us are stuck at home with a rare driving trip to the supermarket. Some are even mailing our “refund” checks while others are crediting the amounts to remaining premiums due.Gadol: My recollection seems to have been off. It is the State of New York, Department of Financial Services, that instituted regulatory relief to insurance policyholders; apparently not federal legislation. It’s likely a number of other states acted likewise. In New York people or small businesses experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19 (likely based on self-declaration) may defer paying insurance premiums on health, life, property and casualty insurance policies. As of now the relief ranges between 60 and 90 days, depending on the policy type.
Why stop at life insurance what about burial insurance? Back in the days every Jew was part of a Chevra Kedushah which took care of the burials. Now a days hardly anyone is a member. The cost just for a burial plot can be as high as $50,000.00 in some places both in Israel and in Brooklyn. Add at least another $10,000 for taharah and other funeral expenses. The cost back then was $20.00 a year per family a lot cheaper then any life insurance policy.
Yes there are charities that will bury the poor, but just as you are trying to convince people to buy life insurance so to0 should they buy burial insurance. What happens to the deceased if they don’t have a burial plot or the cemetery is closed or there are no flights to Israel, due to the pandemic. I guess they just have to wait.Reb Yosef: Thanks for the clarification. Hopefully, other states will follow the NYS policy but my point was a more global concern. Insurance companies have substantial discretion to cancel policies for non-payment of premiums as long as they strictly adhere to the rules of the insured’s state. In most cases, that requires only one or two warning letters to the address on record, which sometimes may be an insurance broker or agent. Treat your insurance premiums like your home mortgage payment and don’t “assume” you have forbearance for a late payment unless you have confirmation in writing. A mistake can be very costly.
areivim USA is a very good thing to have. It’s group in which everytime a member dies the family receives 100k per dependent.
Every member is charged when someone dies. The max payment is 28$ per month.
There was once another similar one but it shut down. very cheap and it lasts for as long as you have dependents.
website is WWW. areivim .info.@Coffee Addict
The insurance Broker system while common in NY State is not in many places.
Here in CT the insurance company is paid directly and they pay the commission to the sales agent/broker (if there is one due a commission).A insurance broker in NY may choose to front the money for the Yeshiva until paid, or may have a positive commission balance with the insurance company, so the premium is paid from the float.
This can’t happen with direct payment situations.
Ctlawyer,
He doesn’t pay he only gets paid once they pay (just like how you described for CT
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