Voluntary life insurance

Voluntary life insurance is extra group term coverage you can elect at work, beyond any basic life insurance the employer provides at no cost. You pay the premiums through payroll deduction, usually at group rates set by age bands that often step up every five years. Plans commonly let you buy multiples of salary for yourself and smaller amounts for a spouse and children.

Enrollment timing matters. When you're first eligible, you can usually buy up to a guaranteed issue amount with no health questions; amounts above that, or elections made later, typically require evidence of insurability. Hypothetically, a plan might let you elect up to five times salary, with the first $200,000 guaranteed at initial enrollment and anything more subject to health questions.

The main advantages are convenience and easy approval for people with health issues. The drawbacks: rates for older employees can exceed individual term prices for healthy buyers, premiums rise as you age, and coverage often ends when you leave the job unless you port or convert it, sometimes at a higher cost. Compare it with individual term before relying on it. See supplemental (voluntary) life insurance at work, keeping group life insurance when you leave a job and the is my life insurance through work enough?.