Your ADA membership entitles you to exclusive access to this life insurance coverage. Whether you obtain coverage for yourself or your whole family, you will pay discounted, members-only rates for all your ADA Term Life coverage.
The ADA Term Life Plan has protected ADA members and their families since 1934. Since then, dentists have relied on this affordable and flexible coverage from dental school to retirement. The "building block" nature of this insurance lets you protect your family throughout your professional career — and beyond.
This term life insurance automatically includes many popular features. You can also customize your coverage through many options. Read on to learn more about the ADA Term Life Plan...
ADA Term Life is available to you at some of the most competitive rates on the market. Two types of members-only discounts can reduce your gross rates:
Special discounts are declared by the ADA when the Plan's experience is favorable but are not guaranteed.
When you apply for Term Life coverage, you will automatically be
considered for Preferred rates — the lowest possible price for
ADA members — which can be significantly less than1
our already low Standard rates. Introduced in 2004, the Preferred
category was designed to recognize exceptionally healthy members
based on their lower risk to the Plan.
Preferred rates are available to the healthiest individuals who have low-risk health and lifestyle characteristics. (Click here to see how to qualify.) Your spouse is also eligible for Preferred rates, and like you, will be automatically considered when applying for insurance.
One dentist says:
Some people have told me it's enough to buy life insurance that covers two years of living expenses. But I don't want my wife to come to the end of two years, run out of money, and be forced to get a job. I want her to be able to stay home if she wants, and finish raising our kids. I also bought coverage for my wife, so I would have enough money to hire someone to help me take excellent care of the kids if something ever happened to my wife. So now I just monitor my income and apply for additional insurance every few years to keep up with what my family would need financially if either of us were gone.
If you qualify, Preferred rates will apply to your ADA Term Life coverage — including any insurance you already have in force - for 10 full years. After the 10-year period, your existing coverage cannot be terminated or reduced by Great-West Life, and you will not be charged higher than the Plan's Standard rates, for existing coverage. You will be notified when your 10-year period is about to end so, if desired, you could submit new medical evidence and apply to extend Preferred rates for another 10 years.
Over any 10-year period, you could pay less in total Preferred premiums than you would pay for most level premium term life insurance2 you could buy on your own. (Read more about comparison shopping for life insurance for specific details.) And because members-only discounts can reduce your ADA Term Life rates even further, you could get an unbeatable life insurance value.
The ADA Term Life Plan lets you get just the right amount of coverage, from $25,000 to $2,000,000. Most financial planners recommend life insurance protection that equals 8 to 12 times your annual income. This is to help ensure that your family will have the cash to meet immediate needs and maintain their standard of living long into the future. Any time before age 65, you can apply for additional insurance, including coverage for your spouse and/or children, to keep up with your needs and responsibilities.
In the unlikely event that your need for insurance decreases, you can also reduce the amount of your insurance coverage by making a request in writing. Keep in mind, however, that once you decrease your coverage, any future increases will be subject to proof of good health.
Take advantage of this Plan's flexibility by customizing your insurance coverage with any one of the following options:
One dentist says:
When I started to buy my practice, I had no idea that life insurance was an option as collateral for a loan. Working with Great-West Life, it all came together so easily — I applied for coverage, got approved, and got my lender the documentation that was needed. Thanks to the original owners of the practice, my lender, and Great-West Life, I'm set up for success.
Jacy Robling, DDS
Crawfordsville, IN
ADA Term Life is protection for the long term, whether you need it for 10, 20, or 40 years, or more. Once your coverage is active, you can keep it all the way to age 81 without ever taking another medical exam. That's important in case your needs or health change along the way. You have a guaranteed right to renew your coverage each year, as long as you remain an ADA member and pay premiums when due.
If you think you'll need life insurance coverage after you turn 81, you can exchange your ADA Term Life coverage for ADA Term Plus Universal Life Insurance, which provides protection all the way to age 90. Conversion must occur before you turn 65, but there is no medical exam or other qualification to exchange your coverage.
You can adjust your insurance coverage throughout your career, by applying for new or increased Term Life (for yourself or your spouse) any time before age 65. With $25,000 coverage increments, it's easy to select the exact amount of insurance that meets your particular needs.
There's no doubt your spouse makes a tremendous contribution to the family's well-being. Whether this important partner earns a paycheck or not, your spouse provides support that deserves to be protected. ADA Term Life helps you protect the cost to replace your spouse's income and/or such items as child care and household management, and cushions you from the strain of having to replace that support on your own.
Augmenting your member coverage with spouse coverage is just as affordable, since your spouse qualifies for discounted members-only rates too. Your legal spouse is eligible to apply for as much as 100% of your coverage amount (up to a maximum of $750,000) in any increment of $25,000.
You can even insure each of your children with $10,000 in coverage, which gives your family one more layer of financial security. One low annual premium covers all of your dependent children until each one turns 21 (or 23 if they are in school full-time). If you have elected child coverage, any newborn is automatically covered with $2,000 of life insurance from 14 days of age until the child is 6 months old.
At no additional cost, ADA Term Life coverage includes two additional benefits:
At any time before you turn 65, you can diversify your insurance portfolio — or simply take it in another direction — by exchanging some or all of your Term Life coverage for ADA Term Plus® Universal Life Insurance. You do not need to take a medical exam or requalify in any way, and there is no additional cost to exercise this conversion privilege. The Term Plus Plan enables you to accumulate cash value on a tax-deferred basis, plus keep your insurance coverage at full value to age 90. Learn more about ADA Term Plus online, or call 866-607-5338 for a conversion application.
Under certain circumstances, you can also convert your ADA Term Life coverage to an individual whole life insurance policy issued by Great-West Life. No proof of good health is required, and premiums are based on a separate rate schedule and depend on your age and risk class. Contact 866-607-5338 for more information on this conversion privilege.
Are you comparison shopping? If you're trying to compare ADA Term Life to level premium term life insurance, there are many important factors to consider:
Plan Type: The ADA Term Life Plan is a yearly renewable policy, meaning your coverage renews every year when you pay the billed premium. This Plan is also a group policy that has been operated by the ADA since 1934, totally free of any endorsement fees and sales commissions. Discounted rates are based on the volume buying power of nearly 100,000 participants, and every year the Plan returns operating surpluses to Plan participants in the form of additional discounts. Most level premium term policies, on the other hand, are normally fully commissioned, for-profit, non-refund individual policy contracts with fixed (i.e., level) rates.
Coverage Amount: Under both types of policies, you are approved for a certain amount of coverage. However, only one type — yearly renewable term like the ADA Term Life Plan — is flexible and allows you to modify your coverage, either up or down, as needed. You can even choose to elect various coverage options, or decide you no longer want those options, years after you first obtained coverage. Because a yearly renewable policy "lives and breathes" right alongside you, the premium changes accordingly whenever you adjust your coverage. But if you choose a level premium policy, which is not usually modifiable after inception, your insurance coverage is static throughout the entire term. The only way you can modify the coverage is to drop it altogether.
Policy Duration: How long will you need life insurance? With level premium term insurance, you determine at the outset how long you think you will need the coverage — 10 years, for example — and bank on that decision to meet your needs into the future. Chances are good, however, that your needs will actually change...and at some point you may decide you need the coverage longer than the term (number of years) you purchased.
Yearly renewable insurance, on the other hand, allows you greater future flexibility, since the expiration date is typically dependent on some high age, not a fixed number of years. Under the ADA Term Life Plan, for example, your coverage can continue, year after year all the way to age 81. You also have the ability to cancel it at any time, such as 10 months or 10 years later, if you find at that time that you no longer need it. In other words, you — and not the insurance plan itself — maintain long-term control over the duration of your coverage. In fact, with ADA Term Life, you can even exchange your coverage to a universal life policy, without a conversion fee or proof of good health, and continue your full life insurance coverage all the way to age 90.
Premiums: The price you pay for insurance coverage is understandably a major factor in your purchasing decision. That's why it's critical to understand the cost differences between these two types of life insurance.
Premiums for yearly renewable coverage are based on your age and increase gradually every year, reflecting the slightly increased mortality risk associated with each annual increase in age. With yearly renewable coverage, the rate you are charged each year is based on the cost to cover the mortality risk at your current age. In contrast, a level term policy "locks in" a rate that is the same every year of the term. But because the underlying mortality risk increases every year, these flat premiums are actually set higher than they need to be in the first half of the term. Why pay more than you have to?
Guaranteed level premium rates might be beneficial if you are on a fixed income or want to be able to budget consistently year after year. But just as those level premiums are guaranteed not to go up, they are also guaranteed not to go down. No matter what happens, your premiums will never be reduced. ADA Term Life premiums, on the other hand, are reviewed every year...and they are regularly reduced when the Plan has favorable experience. For example, such things as general population mortality trends, which have been improving in recent years due to medical advances and likewise help improve the experience of the ADA Term Life Plan, can result in greater Premium Credit discounts for participants.
If you're like many dentists, you may appreciate the more gradual increases that come with yearly renewable insurance, since your income tends to rise over time too. But for most level term coverage, premiums can spike after the initial term expires - as much as 14 to 30 times higher* than initial premiums — if your health has deteriorated since the original purchase. Not only is that increase dramatic, but depending on your medical status, you may not be able to qualify for any other life insurance policy...and be forced to pay those higher rates in order to maintain your insurance coverage.
* Based on rate comparisons between lowest possible Level
Premium Term rates and standard renewal rates for several
individual policies, according to independent research conducted
by Great-West Life in July 2003.
Policy Fees: Most level premium term policies include a policy fee to cover front-end administrative costs, and it's usually a flat amount no matter when or how much coverage you purchase. If you buy several such policies to "stack up" insurance over time, you end up paying multiple policy fees for your coverage. With the ADA Term Life Plan, there is never any policy fee, for your initial coverage or for any future increase you apply for. You can request as much as you need and add coverage for yourself or your family members — and never incur any policy fees.
Flexibility: One of the reasons you purchase life insurance is to protect your loved ones from future unknowns...and since it's impossible to know what truly lies ahead, flexible insurance coverage could someday be an unexpected comfort. Yearly renewable coverage, which can continue at your discretion to a very high age and be modified as your needs change, provides much more flexibility than typical level premium term insurance.
In summary, there are a number of reasons why we believe ADA Term Life is a better option — and better overall value — than level premium term life insurance:
The ADA Term Life Plan takes your need for long-term financial security to heart, as evidenced by 70 years of providing insurance protection to dentists like you. Because of the coverage flexibility that allows you to apply for more insurance whenever you need it, and because of yearly renewable premiums that are equitably graded over the duration of your coverage, the ADA believes that ADA Term Life is in the best interests of its members.
For assistance comparing specific policies, contact a Plan Specialist at 866-607-5338 or ada@gwl.com.
1Most Preferred participants will save 40% or more off our Standard rates, with savings typically higher for older participants.
2Based on rate comparisons between lowest possible level premium term rates and standard renewal rates for several individual policies, according to independent research conducted by Great-West Life in 2003.
Please check Legal Issues for additional information pertaining to this Plan. Click here to learn more about other ADA-sponsored insurance products.