Does life insurance cover death from COVID-19 or another pandemic?

Yes. Individual life insurance policies cover death from any illness, and standard contracts do not carve out COVID-19, influenza or other epidemic diseases. If the policy was in force, premiums were paid and the application was truthful, the full death benefit is generally payable whether the insured died of a pandemic disease or any other illness. The real limits are the ones that apply to every policy: the early years of a graded policy, lapses and application misstatements.

Why pandemics are not an exclusion

A life insurance policy promises to pay on death from any cause unless the contract lists an exclusion. Insurers price that promise using mortality tables built from many years of experience, which include the occasional bad flu season. A pandemic is an unusually large, unpredictable version of an ordinary risk, and the industry's history is that it pays the claims.

The 1918 influenza pandemic is the best-known test. Death payouts by life insurers surged, and the industry absorbed them. During COVID-19, the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) reported that U.S. death-benefit payouts rose 15.4%, from $78.36 billion in 2019 to $90.43 billion in 2020, and then to about $100 billion in 2021, as reported by Insurtech Insights. Those payouts were driven largely by the pandemic, which is evidence that policies paid rather than excluded it.

Contract language rarely mentions pandemics at all. If you want to be certain, read your policy's exclusion and limitation sections for the words "epidemic," "pandemic," "disease" or "infectious." Most will not contain them.

What does limit payment for an illness death

A COVID-19 or pandemic death can still run into the usual problems:

If a person died of COVID-19 within the first two years of a regular policy, the insurer may review the application. The question is not how the person died, but whether the answers on the application were accurate. For example, if the person had a serious chronic condition that was not disclosed, the insurer may look at that history. See what happens if you lie on a life insurance application.

What changed for applicants

Pandemics do not change what existing policies cover, but they have changed how insurers screen applicants.

• Recent infection and vaccination questions. During 2020 and 2021, many applications asked about positive tests, symptoms, quarantine, hospitalization and travel. Some insurers temporarily postponed applicants with active infection. Questions about COVID-19 history have since become more specific and, at many companies, less prominent, but applications can still ask about diagnoses, "long COVID" symptoms and other lingering conditions.
• Accelerated underwriting. Insurers expanded accelerated underwriting: approval without an exam, which approves many healthy applicants using data and a phone interview rather than a paramedical exam. Eligibility ages and face amounts depend on the insurer.
• Medical conditions after infection. Lasting complications, such as lung damage or heart conditions, are treated like any other medical history and can affect rate class. The effect depends on severity and recovery.
• Travel and outbreak areas. For applicants planning to travel to regions with outbreaks or health advisories, insurers may ask about plans or delay issuance. See foreign travel and life insurance applications.

Because underwriting practices change, ask a licensed agent or the insurer what the current application asks, and answer every question completely. The the questions on a life insurance application guide covers what to expect.

If you want coverage during an outbreak

If you are healthy and worried about a pandemic, the practical steps are the same as at any other time:

1. Buy before you need it. An insurer can decline or postpone an applicant who is ill, hospitalized or recently diagnosed. Coverage in force is protected by the policy, not by news cycles.
2. Answer honestly. If you had COVID-19 or another infection, say so when asked. A truthful application leaves the policy on solid ground after the contestability period.
3. Check what you already have. Review the policy for lapse risk, beneficiary names and any graded period. The annual life insurance policy review checklist helps.
4. Pay attention to premium due dates. Economic stress, not the virus, is a more common reason policies lapse. Set up automatic payments and name a lapse notification designee where the state allows it.
5. Consider a short-term gap. If you cannot qualify for traditional coverage, guaranteed issue life insurance: no health questions, with limits and group coverage through an employer are options, with their own limits.

If a family member died of COVID-19

The claim process is the same as for any other illness: contact the insurer, send a certified death certificate and the claim form, and follow up. Death certificates list the cause of death, and COVID-19 as a listed cause does not reduce the benefit. See how to file a life insurance claim and documents you need for a life insurance claim. If the insurer denies a claim or pays less than the face amount, ask for the policy provision it relies on in writing and see how to appeal a denied life insurance claim.

Group life through an employer is handled the same way, with the plan administrator or insurer. Coverage may depend on whether the person was still an active employee at death. Check employer life insurance claims after leaving a job for situations involving layoffs or leaves.

Could insurers add pandemic exclusions?

Insurers can write new policies with new exclusions if state regulators approve the forms, and a few products outside the individual life market, such as some travel and event coverage, do exclude pandemics. Existing in-force policies cannot add an exclusion without the owner's consent. Anyone buying a new policy should read the exclusions section. Under the standard approach discussed above, a base term or whole life policy remains a promise to pay on death from any illness.

Key takeaways

• Standard life insurance covers death from COVID-19 and other pandemic diseases; they are not exclusions.
• ACLI data show U.S. death-benefit payouts rose from $78.36 billion in 2019 to $90.43 billion in 2020 and about $100 billion in 2021, consistent with insurers paying pandemic claims.
• Graded policies, lapses, expired terms and application misstatements are the realistic reasons a pandemic-era claim is limited.
• Applications now ask more about recent infections and lingering conditions, and answers must be complete and accurate.
• Buying coverage before you are ill is the best protection, since insurers can postpone or decline a sick applicant.