Burial Insurance No Waiting Period: Unlock Instant Coverage

With most purchases, there is an expectation that once a product is bought, you should have access to it right away. Immediate access could not be more important when discussing your family’s financial future.

Burial Insurance No Waiting Period

Burial insurance with no waiting period is coverage that is immediately available to your beneficiary. This means that even if the insured dies right after the policy becomes active, the full death benefit is still awarded.

Health is the single most important factor in seniors qualifying for no waiting period burial insurance coverage.

Burial coverage is a type of whole life insurance meant to pay for the insured’s final expenses. This coverage is also referred to as final expense insurance and funeral insurance.

Final expense policies come in lesser policy amounts than traditional life insurance since it is intended to pay for funeral expenses. With an average funeral cost of $8,000 – $12,000, final expense coverage ranges from $2,000 – $40,000.

What Does No Waiting Period Mean for Life Insurance?

When speaking about life insurance, no waiting period refers to the applicant getting immediate coverage. Conversely, a waiting period is a time restriction before full coverage begins.

If the insured dies before the end of the waiting period, the beneficiary will not receive the full death benefit amount. For final expense insurance with no waiting period, the beneficiary can get the full coverage amount as soon as the policy is active.

Do All Life Insurance Policies Have a Waiting Period?

Not all life insurance policies have a waiting period. However, applicants must qualify for immediate coverage based on their health and age. Some life insurance companies are more lenient than others when it comes to qualifying for plans with no waiting period.

What Life Insurance Has No Waiting Period?

Several types of life insurance are not subject to a waiting period, but many will make you get a medical exam to qualify. Final expense insurance will never ask an applicant to get a medical exam to qualify for immediate coverage.

Does Final Expense Insurance Have A Waiting Period?

Some policies offered by burial insurance companies have a waiting period, and some offer immediate coverage. If you would like funeral insurance with no waiting period, you must qualify based on your health. Seniors with a chronic or terminal illness could be subject to a delay in coverage. 

The important thing to understand is that each insurance provider sets its own individual qualifying standards for each plan. One carrier could be more accommodating to people with a certain pre-existing condition, while another will deny the same applicant or enforce a waiting period.

The best burial insurance coverage is offered by a reputable company, with immediate benefits and low prices.

Funeral Insurance Plans

Within burial and funeral life insurance, there are 4 tiers of coverage.

Level: This is the best burial coverage and is built to cover healthy seniors. There is no waiting period, and the prices are the lowest when compared to the other tiers.

Graded: A partial death benefit is offered progressively through a 2-year restriction in coverage. This is the next-best funeral insurance plan for seniors unable to qualify for level plans.

Modified: This plan is also referred to as a “return of premium” policy because, during the 2-year coverage delay, the death benefit is the paid premiums +10% if the insured dies.

Guaranteed Issue: No health questions are asked to obtain this type of policy. Plans with guaranteed acceptance are going to have a waiting period and higher costs.

Level is the only tier that has immediate coverage. Final expense insurance with no waiting period is worth it for many seniors across America.

The 3 other plan options have delayed benefits upon policy issue. Having said that, graded plans offer partial benefits during this time.

What are Partial Benefits?

True graded policies offer a percentage of the death benefit immediately, but full coverage is not awarded until the waiting period has ended. This time restriction is usually two years.

An example of a partial (graded) coverage payout is:

• Death in year 1: 30% of death benefit paid
• Death in year 2: 70% of death benefit paid
• All other years: 100% of death benefit paid

This varies by policy, and not all graded payout structures are like this during the coverage delay.

Some plans are marketed as graded policies, but they have the structure of a modified plan. This is why we referred to it as a true graded policy.

How Do I Get Burial Insurance With No Waiting Period?

The majority of seniors can qualify for immediate coverage. Working with an independent insurance agency specializing in this area of coverage and having access to several life insurance companies will be the best tool to get funeral insurance with no waiting period.

To get an idea of the monthly funeral insurance cost, use the quick quote tool on this page. It will show a list of burial plans that are available for seniors from a range of providers. The policies that are marked as “level” will have instant coverage and are less expensive.

A final expense insurance specialist will be able to let you know which plan you can qualify for based on your health.

How Insurance Companies Determine Eligibility

The application will ask a series of “yes” or “no” health questions. If you can truthfully answer “no” to every question, you will be able to get the best burial coverage with no waiting period. If you answer “yes” to any of the questions, benefits could be delayed.

Based on your answers, funeral insurance companies will take one of the following actions.

• Acceptance with instant benefits & low premiums
• Acceptance with partial coverage immediately & higher premiums
• Acceptance with a return of premiums, delayed benefits & highest premiums
• Denial of coverage

Each insurance provider determines its own acceptance guidelines and prices, so the way each company reacts to certain health questions is not consistent from one carrier to the next.

Qualifying for Final Expense Insurance with No Waiting Period

Working with a final expense insurance specialist with access to many funeral insurance companies will be the best way to learn if you qualify for day-one benefits. More often than not, there is no reason for seniors to wait. Funeral insurance is worth it for people who do not have to wait for full coverage benefits.

Health Conditions that Qualify with No Waiting Periods

Each of these conditions will get approval when applying with the right insurance company.

• Angina
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Atrial Fibrillation (AFib)
• Bipolar
• Chronic Bronchitis
• Cirrhosis
• COPD
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Diverticulitis
• Fibromyalgia
• Hepatitis
• High Blood Pressure
• High Cholesterol
• Liver Disease
• Lupus
• Neuropathy
• Overweight/Obese
• Schizophrenia
• Sleep Apnea

Certain combinations of health concerns might be cause for a provider to implement a benefit restriction. However, this varies greatly depending on the health combination and the carrier.

Please let your agent know your health concerns so they can best place you with the most appropriate plan.

Plans With No Health Questions

Burial life insurance without a medical exam or health questions will result in a waiting period. This is known as guaranteed acceptance life insurance or guaranteed issue.

Below are a few examples of medical questions on an application. Look them over to make sure you can get approved for a burial insurance no waiting period plan, regarding your specific health situation.

• Have you had any major surgeries recently?
• Do you have a terminal illness or a current cancer diagnosis?
• Do you have a defibrillator implant or require continuous oxygen use?
• Do you have AIDS, ARC, or HIV?
• Are you bedridden, confined to a hospital, or on hospice?
• Have you been treated for dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, or memory loss?

If you answered “YES” to any of these medical questions, we recommend learning more about guaranteed acceptance plans to gauge your next steps.

If you can answer “NO” to the above questions, a guaranteed life insurance plan is unnecessary.

Healthy Seniors do Not Need Waiting Periods

Far too often, we speak with seniors who were sold the wrong life insurance plan for their situation. Getting the wrong plan could mean that a perfectly healthy person buys a product with a coverage delay.

Guaranteed life plans typically send information through the mail or promote it on TV commercials, like senior AARP life insurance and Colonial Penn burial coverage. If it feels too easy to get a policy, there is a reason for that. Life insurance without medical questions comes with delayed benefits and much higher premiums.

You will want to stay away from life insurance with a waiting period whenever possible because guaranteed issue plans should only be used by seniors with severely compromised health.

How Willamette Life Can Help You

Every agent at Willamette Life is a final expense insurance specialist.

We only represent senior life insurance and do everything in our power to find immediate and affordable coverage for our clients. Willamette Life only partners with funeral insurance companies that have a top financial rating.

Our job is to be friendly, informative and help you and your family make the right decisions throughout the buying process.

Give Willamette Life a call at 844-576-0019

Final Thoughts

a. Burial insurance with no waiting period is available to seniors who qualify by answering the health questions favorably.

b. People with a chronic or terminal condition may be subject to a delay in coverage.

c. Working with an independent agent who can compare multiple plan options will be the best way to find affordable funeral insurance with no waiting period.