What is Burial Insurance?

As you preplan funerals at funeral homes in Dayton, OH, you should think about burial insurance as part of your preplanning process. This can add to your peace of mind of taking care of all your funeral arrangements ahead of time so that your family doesn’t have the stress of dealing with this when you die.

Burial insurance is an insurance policy that is specifically designed to cover all your final expenses. When considering burial insurance policies, you need to factor in expenses other than funeral expenses. These might include medical bills, legal expenses, or any other outstanding bills that need to be paid after you die.

While burial insurance policy amounts are much smaller than life insurance policy payouts, they should still be enough to reasonably cover any expected final expenses.

Many insurance companies sell separate burial insurance policies, but some insurance companies allow you to convert a portion of insurance you’ve already purchased from them into a dedicated burial insurance policy.

You buy home insurance when you buy a house. Usually, this covers the entire mortgage in case something catastrophic happens to the home. As the mortgage is paid off, you probably are paying for more coverage than you need to satisfy the remaining balance on the mortgage. A portion of this may be eligible for conversion to a burial insurance policy. Check with your home insurance agent to see if this is an option that is applicable to your home insurance policy.

Burial insurance policies, unlike life insurance policies, do not require that you have a medical examination, and rates are not higher if you are elderly or are in poor health, so they tend to be very affordable for most people.

Burial life insurance is a permanent whole life policy. Unlike life insurance policies, which are sold as term policies that have to be renewed (at higher costs) every ten years (and can be quite expensive as whole life policies, especially the older you are and if you are not in good health), burial insurance policy rates are locked in when you buy them and they are in effect, as long as the premiums are paid, for as long as you live.

While life insurance policies can be used to cover final expenses, life insurance policies are designed to take care of your family after you die, as your death may result in the loss of income and the loss of earning power. So, ideally, you’ll want to have both a life insurance policy and a burial policy.

Death benefits paid on burial insurance policies depend on whether the policy is a modified or level policy. Modified burial insurance policies usually have a one or two-year restricted time period after the policy is purchased, where the policy will pay less than the face value of the policy if your death is from natural causes.

Level burial insurance policies pay the full death benefit, whether you die a week after you buy the policy or 30 years after you buy it. Level burial insurance policies typically have higher premiums than modified burial insurance policies, but they also offer peace of mind that the full amount of the policy will be paid, no matter when you die after the policy is in effect.

Even though medical exams are not typically required for burial insurance policies, there are some medical questions that need to be answered. If your answers to these questions suggest that you may have some medical issues, the insurance company will issue a modified burial insurance policy. If there are no health concerns based on your answers to the medical questions, then the company will issue a level burial insurance policy.

If you’d like information about burial insurance at funeral homes in Dayton, OH, our compassionate and experienced staff at Glickler Funeral Home & Cremation Service can help.