Washington Life Insurance (QUOTES, COST & COVERAGE)

What Does Washington Life Insurance Cover?

Life insurance is a way of helping your family deal financially when you die. It’s intended to provide financial help to your loved ones when your salary or income is gone.

The money (death benefit) can be used to pay: your funeral expense, pay off debts, pay the mortgage, fund your children’s education, cover everyday expenses and more.

When you start thinking about purchasing a WA life insurance policy, you should first look at your assets. Are you wealthy enough to help with the bills you leave behind? If you are, you might not need a large life insurance policy. The money you leave behind may be enough to cover funeral and burial expenses as well as other bills such as estate taxes. Do you have enough money to cover lost income should you become unable to work? If you don’t have enough to act as a supplemental income, you may want to purchase a larger life insurance policy.

What Types Washington Life Insurance Are There?

There are two main types of WA life insurance available, and some of them offer more ‘living benefits’, in addition to the payout upon the death of the insured.

• Term Insurance: Term life insurance is considered to be the most basic of life insurance available. Term lofe only offers death benefit protection – if you die during the policy term your beneficiaries get a payment.
• Permanent Insurance: This form of life insurance is different from term insurance because it offers in addition to offering a death benefit, it also offers cash value component that can be accessed during the insured’s life. The cash build up is not taxed under current law.

Term Life Insurance – Term is a temporary type of life insurance that covers you for a set period (term) of one or more years – typically 10, 20 or 30. It pays a death benefit only if you die during that term. Term insurance generally provides the largest amount of death protection per premium dollar.

Below are some of the most common forms of permanent insurance:

Whole Life Insurance – Whole Life a permanent type of life insurance that protects you for as long as you live as long as you pay the premiums. With the most common type, called straight life or ordinary life insurance, you pay the same premium for as long as you live. Whole life is used to extend the coverage past a certain term, and can also build a cash value tax free over time.

Universal Life Insurance – Universal Life is a newer, permanent and flexible type of life insurance policy where the premiums you pay, less expense charges, are deposited into a policy account that earns interest tax free. Charges for the insurance are deducted from the account.

Variable Universal Life Insurance – Similar to universal life this type of permanent insurance is flexible where the premiums you pay, less expense charges, are deposited into a policy account that invests in mutual funds or other investments. This means that the funds have the opportunity to grow more than some of the other types of permanent insurance, and it also means there is risk for losses in value if the stock market declines. Charges for the insurance are deducted from the account.

Survivorship Life Insurance – Survivorship Life covers two people (like husband and wife), and pays a death benefit at either the first death (first to die) or after both have passed away (last to die). Survivorship costs less than two individual permanent policies, so it can offer a larger death benefit for your beneficiaries.

Final Expense Life Insurance – Final Expense also know as ‘burial insurance’ is purchased by seniors to pay for high cost of WA funeral and other related expenses such as a headstone, burial, flowers, and memorial service, so their remaining family does not have to be burdened by the bills.

What Washington Life Insurance Doesn’t Cover

Life insurance typically will not pay the death benefit if the insured:

• Commits suicide. If the insured kills themselves. In some states there is something called a ‘suicide clause’, which means if the insured commits suicide within a certain time frame, the beneficiary would not get the death benefit.
• Commits Fraud. The insurance company is going to investigate the cause of death. They will look at the events that led to the death and compare them to the original application. If the insured smokes or has some other health issue, or skydives, cliff jumps etc. and did not disclose it on the original application they can deny the claim.
• Does illegal activities. If the insured dies while committing a crime or participating in any kind of illegal activity.
• Involved in Acts of War. If the insured dies in a war.
• Permanently moves outside the USA. If the insured moves to certain countries.

How Much Does Washington Life Insurance Cost?

How much does WA life insurance cost? The premiums vary depending on the company and their underwriting rules, and it depends on the type of policy an amount of coverage selected. Following are some of the main ‘personal risk factors’ that go into the price of a policy:

• Age – Life insurance gets more expensive as you get older. There is a saying, “The best time to buy life insurance is yesterday.”
• Non Smoker or Smoker – Smokers pay for life insurance.
• Health – Healthier people pay less. Overweight people, those with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diseases like diabetes etc. will pay more.
• Gender – Women live longer than men and pay less because of that.
• Occupation – Accounts will pay less than people who build skyscrapers.
• Travel amp; Hobbies – If participate in extreme sports like skydiving or travel to dangerous parts of the world, you might pay more.
• Personal Risk Factors – These include your credit history, driving history and criminal history.

WA Life Insurance Quotes

Request a Washington Life Insurance quote in Auburn, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Bellingham, Bothell, Bremerton, Burien, Camas, Des Moines, Edmonds, Everett, Federal Way, Issaquah, Kenmore, Kennewick, Kent, Kirkland, Lacey, Lake Stevens, Lakewood, Longview, Lynnwood, Maple Valley, Marysville, Mercer Island, Moses Lake, Mount Vernon, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo, Oak Harbor, Olympia, Pasco, Port Angeles, Pullman, Puyallup, Redmond, Renton, Richland, Sammamish, SeaTac, Seattle, Shoreline, Spokane Valley, Spokane, Tacoma, Tukwila, University Place, Vancouver, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, Yakima and all other cities in WA.

Washington Insurance Rules & Regulations

In Washington State, there are certain types of insurance that you should be aware of. We will be covering the limits and regulations of insurance within the state. You should be aware of these because if you operate a business, there may be certain types of insurance that you are required to carry. In addition, even if you do not have a business, there may be certain types of insurance regulations that you should familiarize yourself with. We will be taking a close look at insurance regulations for both personal and commercial here.

WA Commercial Insurance

For business liability insurance, what you should be aware of is that Washington does not require businesses to carry business liability insurance in order to operate. Washington is a pure comparative fault state which means that an insurance adjuster must first assess fault and name the adjuster or a court will reduce the award proportionate to the fault of the plaintiff. Businesses may carry business liability insurance in order to protect themselves against these types of claims.

However, Washington does require anyone who employs at least one person full-time or part-time to carry Worker's Compensation insurance to protect them if they are injured on the job. Washington does not require any type of disability insurance for businesses nor do they require commercial vehicles to carry commercial auto insurance.

Washington Personal Insurance

There are two types of personal insurance that you should be aware of. The first is auto insurance requirements. In Washington State, you are required to carry 25 000 USD per person and 50 000 USD per accident in bodily injury coverage. You are also required to carry 10 000 USD in property damage as well as uninsured/underinsured bodily coverage of 25 000 per person and 50 000 USD per accident.

There are two life insurance regulations to be aware of in Washington State. First, be aware that there is no free look period like there is in most states. If you sign up for life insurance, you are not able to cancel within 10 days in order to get a refund on your policy premium. However, there is a law that requires timely payment on insurance claims in the state of Washington. In fact, the state requires that the beneficiaries account start accruing interest on the day of death. That means that insurance companies will have to pay more for each day that they fail to pay the benefit. There is also a misrepresentation law when it comes to life insurance in Washington.