ABA Life Insurance Review

Miles Mason, Sr. is a member of the ABA Family Law Section and does not endorse any products.

The American Bar Association (ABA) offers its members a wide range of insurance products.  These include products for law firms, such as group medical coverage.  But the association also provides a full range of individual insurance products for members, such as auto and home insurance, individual medical and dental insurance, individual disability insurance, and life insurance.

The life insurance offered by the ABA comes in two categories, annual renewable term life, and level term life.

ABA Annual Renewable Term Life

The annual renewable term life policy is available to ABA members and their spouses or domestic partners under the age of 75.  Coverage is also available for certain unmarried children of insured members.  The maximum member coverage is $2 million, in increments of $10,000.  The plan contains a feature by which allows the coverage amount to increase by 10% each year for a maximum of ten years, up to the plan maximum of $2,000,000.  This feature would be ideal for those who know that they will need more coverage in the future.  It should be noted, however, that if this feature is declined, it cannot be added in the future.

The application for this policy does include health questions, and depending upon the answers to those questions, a medical exam may be required.  Coverage continues as long as the insured remains an ABA member until age 85.

This policy is administered by USI Affinity and underwritten by MetLife.  According to the website nerdwallet.com, Met Life is rated A (Excellent) for financial strength by A.M. Best.

The quarterly premium for $1 million coverage for a 50 year old non-smoking member or spouse is approximately $800 per quarter.

ABA Life Insurance Review

ABA Level Term Life Insurance

The other type of policy offered by the ABA, the level term life policy, is underwritten by Fidelity Life Association.  According to the website consumeradvocate.org, the company has an AM Best Financial Rating of A-.  The ABA website notes that Fidelity Life is not licensed in Wyoming or New York, and the policy is presumably not available to members in those states.

The application for this policy also includes health questions, and a medical exam is required.  In most cases, the policy is issued with the medical exam deferred up to six months.  Even if the member “fails” the medical exam, the coverage remains in effect for the term of years selected.  On the other hand, a favorable medical exam may result in reduced cost.

A 45-year-old male non-smoker would pay $70.90 per month for $1,000,000 coverage.  A 45-year-old female would pay $62.20 per month for the same amount of coverage.  In most cases, the company promises to be able to provide an exact quote within 24 to 48 hours, and coverage can commence as soon as that underwriting is done.

The policy is actually a blend of two types of coverage.  One death benefit is paid for any cause of death.  An additional amount is paid for accidental death.  Therefore, when comparing the overall amount of coverage with other policies, it is important to remember that for non-accidental death, the benefit under this policy might be less than other policies with a comparable face value.

One potential issue to keep in mind before selecting either type of coverage through the ABA is that the coverage under both types of policy does require continued ABA membership.  In other words, the insured is required to keep paying membership dues as long as the policy is in effect.  Since dues are currently as high as $467 per year, this might be a consideration for some members.

For more discussion, see How to Buy Life Insurance.

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser.  I do not endorse any products (other than my own books!)  I am a member of the ABA Family Law Section.  These are just some observations from my independent personal research.  Do your own research.  I hope this may help.  This page will likely never be updated.