Life Insurers Fight Social Media Vaccine Disinformation

What You Need to Know

Some social media posts state life insurers classify getting a COVID-19 vaccine as a hazardous pursuit.One claim is that life insures will not pay benefits to those who receive the vaccine and die.The ACLI says getting the vaccine will have no effect on U.S. life insurers’ benefit payments.

(Article reprinted from ThinkAdvisor.com: Life Insurers Fight Social Media Vaccine Disinformation)

To combat a negative social media campaign against the COVID-19 vaccination program, the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) is pushing the message: Getting a COVID-19 vaccine will have no bearing on whether a U.S. life insurance company will pay a policyholder’s life insurance claims.

Last week, for example, one such Twitter post, by someone who identifies appears to be a resident of Germany, stated that people may not be able to collect on life insurance if they’ve engaged in “hazardous pursuits … like taking experimental vaccines.”

Another post, by someone who identified himself as a man living in Europe, said he had called his life insurer and was told “that they do not cover any injury or complications from any Covid-vaccine.”

Paul Graham, senior vice president for policy development at the ACLI, said the idea that a COVID-19 vaccine could be a factor in a U.S. life insurance claim determination is entirely false.

“The fact is that life insurers do not consider whether or not a policyholder has received a COVID vaccine when deciding whether to pay a claim,” Graham said in the statement.

“Life insurance policy contracts are very clear on how policies work, and what cause, if any, might lead to the denial of a benefit. A vaccine for COVID-19 is not one of them. Policyholders should rest assured that nothing has changed in the claims-paying process as a result of COVID-19 vaccinations,” he stated.