No, life insurance companies can't deny payment for COVID-related deaths – WZZM13.com

As the Insurance Information Institute cautions, however, there are several rare exceptions.

MICHIGAN, USA — The internet’s practically abuzz with coronavirus and vaccine information misinformation, swirling with questions that cover everything from how the pandemic started to how it might affect an individual’s insurance coverage.

The 13 ON YOUR SIDE Verify Team put one of the most common claims to the test. 

Edward from Newaygo County asked the team to Verify whether it was true “Life insurance will not pay if unvaccinated even if [the patient] passed away from other ailments.”

Rebecca Barens–president, Willow Insurance GroupScott Holeman–media relations director, Insurance Information Institute

No, an insurer can’t refuse to fulfill a claim for any reason not outlined in the policy, including vaccine status or whether the holder had COVID.  

“If you already have an active life insurance policy and die of a pandemic-related illness like COVID, your family would still receive the death benefit,” Holeman explained. “Life insurance does cover pandemics.”

“There isn’t any life insurance policy that we have that excludes COVID as a cause of loss or has some type of rider or some type of exclusion,” Barens added. 

That’s because an insurance policy is considered a binding legal contract.

Once it’s signed and the money has changed hands, the provider can’t simply go in and retroactively revise coverage. 

“It is what it is,” Barens said. “They can change minute things, they can change where your payments go, something that doesn’t impact coverage, but they can’t go in and change anything to do with coverage.”

There are, however, several rare exceptions:

“If you were not honest about travel plans to high-risk locations when you applied for life insurance, that could lead to a snag,” Holeman related. “Any application that has false information or was incomplete is problematic… always be honest when answering those questions.”

So, our team can Verify, no, an insurer can’t refuse to fulfill a claim for any reason not outlined in the policy, including vaccine status or whether the holder had COVID.   

Insurance companies can, however, deny issuing new coverage based on underwriting requirements, but our sources said the practice wasn’t all that prevalent.  

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