WSJ Reports Most COVID-19 Fatalities Lack Life Insurance
Most of the fatalities are older people where coverage is no longer practical
A recent article on the website of The Wall Street Journal carried the headline, “Those Dying From Covid-19 Are Least Likely to Own Life Insurance.”
The article states, “U.S. life insurers are paying out far fewer Covid-19 death claims than initially expected, largely because the virus is disproportionately killing people with little to no insurance.”
Another way to say that is, the virus is disproportionately killing older people, for whom life insurance is not a good value and not recommended.
In Michigan, the average age of death from COVID-19 has been about 75 years old.
According to an online price quote from Fidelity Life Insurance, the company will not sell or issue a life insurance policy to a man older than age 69. If the 69-year-old man did not smoke and enjoyed better-than-average health status (good health, average cholesterol, low-risk life style), he would pay $1,518 a month for a $1 million, 10-year-term life insurance policy.
By comparison, a 45-year-old man would pay $124 a month for that very same policy.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.