 GIC Life
Insurance
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All
new enrollees receive a life insurance booklet by mail; for another
copy, contact the GIC. A new booklet from The Hartford was mailed in October 2007 to all participants:
Life Insurance Booklets
Active Employee and State Retiree Life Insurance Booklet
Retiree Municipal Teacher (RMT) Life Insurance Booklet
Life insurance, insured by The Hartford Life and Accident Company, helps provide for your family’s economic well-being in the event of your death. This benefit is paid to your designated beneficiaries.
Retired
Teachers who are enrolled in the GIC’s Retired Municipal Program are eligible for basic life insurance only in an amount determined by the city or town from where they retired. Retired Municipal Teachers who are enrolled in a health plan through the GIC’s municipal program, EGRs, and COBRA enrollees are
not eligible for basic or optional life insurance.
Basic
Life Insurance
(Employees, Retired State Employees and RMTs)
The Commonwealth offers $5,000 of Basic Life Insurance to all active state
employees and most retirees who have health coverage through the GIC.
Optional
Life Insurance (Active Employees and Retired State Employees
Only)
Optional Life Insurance is available to provide economic support for your family. This term insurance allows you to increase your coverage up to eight times your annual salary. Term insurance covers you and pays your designated beneficiary in the event of your death or certain other catastrophic events. It is not an investment policy; it has no cash value. This is an employee-pay-all benefit. If you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, you may elect an advance payment of a portion of your life insurance death benefits during your lifetime (Accelerated Life Benefit).
If you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, you may elect an advance payment of your life insurance death benefits (Accelerated Life Benefit).
How Much Do You Need?
To estimate how much Optional Life Insurance you might need, or whether this coverage is right for you, consider such financial factors as: as:
- Your family’s yearly expenses;
- Future expenses, such as college tuition or other expenses unique to your family;
- Your family’s income from savings, other insurance, other sources; and
- The life insurance cost and benefits for your age bracket. For instance, 35-year-olds with young families and mortgages might need the protection. But 65-year-olds who have paid off their mortgage and have no dependent expenses might not needs it, especially because premiums increase significantly as you age.
Accidental
Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) Benefits (Active
Employees, Retired State Employees, and RMTs)
In the event you are injured or die as a result of an accident while insured for life insurance, there are benefits for the following losses:
Life
Hands, Feet, Eyes
Speech and/or Hearing
Thumb and Index Finger of the Same Hand
Quadriplegia
Paraplegia
Hemiplegia
Coma
Brain Damage
Added benefits for loss of life in a car accident while using an airbag or seatbelt.
Life
Insurance and AD&D Questions |
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1-617-727-2310
ext. 1 |
Life
Insurance Enrollment and Changes
You must be enrolled in Basic Life Insurance in order to apply for Optional Life Insurance.
New
Employees
As a new state employee, you may enroll in Optional Life Insurance for a coverage amount of up to eight times your salary without the need for any medical review.
Current Employee (Active Employees
only)
Active employees may apply for the first time or apply to increase their coverage at any time during the year. The active employee must complete a personal health application for The Hartford’s review and approval. The GIC will determine the effective date if The Hartford approves the application.
Current Employee Enhancement This Year! - Increasing or Enrolling In Coverage as a Current Employee
Beginning in the fall of 2008, active employees who have a qualified family status change during the year may enroll in or increase their coverage without any medical review in an amount up to four times salary within 31 days of the qualifying event. Family status changes include the following events:
· Marriage
· Birth or adoption of a child
· Divorce
· Death of a spouse
Requests received prior to the effective date of this change cannot be processed.
Preparing for Retirement
Before retirement, you should review the amount of your Optional Life Insurance coverage and its cost to determine whether it will make financial sense for you to keep it. Talk with a tax advisor about other programs that might be more beneficial at retirement. Optional Life Insurance rates significantly increase when you retire and continue to increase based on your age. See the Retiree/Survivor Benefit Decision Guide for these rates.
Optional
Life Insurance After Retirement
At retirement, you should review the amount of your Optional Life Insurance
coverage and its cost to determine
whether it makes economic sense for you to keep it. Optional Life
Insurance rates significantlt increase when you retire and continue to increase based
on your age. If you have paid off your home and student loans, your tax
advisor might recommend other programs that might be beneficial. You cannot increase your amount of life insurance after
you retire. However, if you decrease coverage and then later want to increase
up to the amount you carried at retirement, you may do so with
proof of good health acceptable to The Hartford.
Optional
Life Insurance Non-Smoker Benefit (Active
Employees and Retired State Employees)
At initial enrollment or during annual
enrollment, if you have been tobacco-free (have not smoked cigarettes, cigars or pipes nor used snuff or chewing tobacco) for at least the past 12 months, you are eligible for reduced Optional Life Insurance rates. You will be required to periodically re-certify your non-smoking status in order to qualify for the lower rates. Changes in smoking status made during annual enrollment will become effective the following July.
Enrolling,
Changing, Decreasing or Dropping Coverage
If you are an active employee and want to add, increase, decrease or drop
optional life insurance at any time during the year, complete the GIC
Insurance Enrollment and Change Form and give it your GIC Coordinator
at your worksite. Retirees may decrease
or drop coverage at any time by writing to the GIC.
Life
Insurance and Leaving State Service
Portability
and Conversion (Active Employees)
Active employees who leave state service or become ineligible for GIC life insurance:
Portability: continue your basic and/or optional life insurance coverage at group rates
Conversion: convert your life insurance coverage to a non-group policy
Portability and Conversion Questions?
Contact The Hartford Life and Accident Company 1.877.320.0484
When
Does Optional Life Insurance Make Sense and
When Should You Discontinue Coverage?
Commonwealth employees
can purchase optional life insurance, provided by The Hartford. Buying optional
life insurance provides economic support for your family in the event
of your death or a catastrophic event.
As a new employee,
you are eligible to apply for optional life insurance. If you did not
choose optional life insurance when you first became an employee, you
can apply as long as a full year has passed since you were first eligible.
You will, however, need to complete medical forms and possibly pass
a physical exam for The Hartford's review and approval.
Your GIC optional
life insurance policy is an enrollee pay-all policy. It is strictly
term insurance, designed to provide for a benefit payable to your beneficiaries
upon your death. Unlike whole life insurance, term life insurance provides
neither a savings element nor cash surrender value. The cost of this
insurance increases with age and with retirement. In addition, if you
elect automatic increase, your life insurance premium automatically
increases when your salary increases. Upon retirement, you can elect
to keep the coverage but not increase it. However, you should periodically
review the amount of your coverage and its cost to see if it makes economic
sense to maintain it.
As with most financial
products, as life circumstance change, you should review the amount
of life insurance coverage, its cost, and your family needs:
Do you still have
a substantial mortgage?
Do you have current
or future college expenses?
Do you have minor
dependents?
What will funeral
expenses, probate costs and estate taxes be?
How much will your
dependents expect to receive in Social Security survivor's benefits?
How much will your
dependents earn from investments and salaries?
How will inflation
erode the policy amount?
See your GIC Coordinator
to add, increase, decrease, or drop optional life insurance coverage.
If you are retired, please write to the GIC.
When
Weighing Life Insurance Needs, Also Check Out Your Deferred Compensation
Option
The optional Deferred
Compensation Plan SMART Plan, administered by the State Treasurer's Office,
has attractive benefits for state employees, employees of participating
municipalities, and other government entities. Call 1-877-457-1900 or visit the State Treasurer's website for details.
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