AHCP Blog

Final Expense: Something Everyone Needs

Written by AHCP | 10/20/17 1:25 AM

They say the only two things in life that are guaranteed are death and taxes, and since most of us aren’t CPAs, we should probably focus our attention on the former rather than the latter.

Hopefully, you’re already selling life insurance. If you’re not, there are three good reasons to consider it:

  1. Your clients need it.
  2. If you don’t recommend it to your clients, chances are nobody else will.
  3. The commissions are great.

Life insurance, of course, isn’t for people who die but rather for the loved ones who outlive them. It helps to replace some of the lost income from the person who passes away and helps beneficiaries preserve their current lifestyle.

Final Expense Insurance

There’s another type of life insurance, though, that’s purchased specifically for the costs related to the person’s death: final expense insurance. Final expense policies are intended to cover burial expenses and other bills related to the person’s death, like uncovered medical bills.

And you know what? A lot of people don’t have final expense insurance. That means that there are a lot of prospects, and if you’ll just mention it, you’ll almost certainly sell some policies.

An Easier Sale

Another interesting thing about final expense insurance is that you’re not as likely to hear some of the objections you might hear with other life insurance products. Because life insurance is purchased to protect the living, people without anyone who is financially dependent on them might think they don’t need much if any life insurance. However, since everyone’s going to die at some point, and most people recognize that there are costs associated with that, there is a need for final expense insurance. It’s a different conversation.

AHCP can help!

It just so happens that America’s Health Care Plan has two final expense vendors if you’d like to start offering it to your clients and prospects. Here’s a little info on each.

Mutual of Omaha

North American Life

If you’re not yet appointed with MOO or NAL, why not go ahead and take care of the paperwork today? When you do, we’ll send you some marketing collateral that you can include in your sales proposals or share with clients who express an interest.

How to Approach the Topic

We know that some agents are a bit reluctant to bring up final expense insurance during a health insurance presentation.  If you aren’t quite sure how to approach it, here’s a little tip: provide your clients with a formal printed proposal that includes quotes and recommendations for each line of coverage they’ve asked you about. You can also throw in a dental quote, whether they requested one or not, since most people are interested in dental coverage. Here’s a recent blog post on that topic. (link) At the beginning of the proposal, though, why not create sort of a table-of-contents/checklist combo? You could include a list of all the lines of coverage you offer with check marks next to those that are included in the proposal. For example:

Included in this Proposal

  • Health
  • Dental
  • Vision
  • Accident
  • Critical Illness
  • Disability
  • Life
  • Final Expense

For telephone sales, you might consider informing your client that you are prepared to cover a range of coverage options including….  Even if you don’t include a final expense quote in the proposal, simply including it in the table of contents lets your clients know that you do offer that type of coverage. Maybe seeing (or hearing) it will make them think to ask you about it. You could go a step further by providing a short definition of each line of coverage. For example:

  • Final Expense Insurance – covers expenses related to someone’s passing, including medical bills and funeral costs.

As our clients’ health insurance options continue to dwindle, they’re likely to ask more questions in hopes that you’ll have a better solution for them. This means you’ll need to spend more time with each client, which gives you an opportunity to talk about other insurance products that may fit their needs and concerns, and final expense insurance is a great place to start. Again, everyone needs it, but most people don’t have it.