It is commonplace for life insurance policies to exclude coverage for certain types of deaths. Usually, these death exceptions in a life insurance policy include death by the use of illegal drugs. If the insured person’s death is excluded under the life insurance policy, the life insurance company will deny any claim on the policy. It is important that the insured person, and any potential beneficiaries, understand what deaths the life insurance policy excludes and whether they may still be able to make a claim even if the insured person’s death was caused by an excluded death. We can fight any life insurance claim denial.
The life insurance policy provision excluding drug overdose deaths usually excludes deaths caused by the voluntary use of illegal or illicit drugs. The life insurance policy can also exclude deaths caused by prescription drugs if the drugs were not prescribed by a doctor or the insured person did not use the drugs according to a valid prescription from a doctor. If the insured person passed away as a result of a drug overdose, regardless of the type of drug, life insurance companies may deny coverage. If the life insurance company denies coverage because the insured person died by drug overdose, they will likely reason that the insured person’s overdose death was intentional (i.e., suicide) or that it came as a result of drug abuse and the insured person misrepresented their drug use on the life insurance application.
The obvious problem with the life insurance companies’ reason for denying the claim in a situation where the insured person passed away because of a drug overdose is that the insured person’s death may not have been intentional for various reasons or the deceased person may have passed away while taking properly prescribed medications. Because the life insurance company’s reasoning may be incorrect, the beneficiaries need to investigate what happened and provide additional information to the life insurance company to avoid a denial of their claim. For example, maybe the insured person accidentally or unknowingly took a fatal amount of illegal drugs. In that case, the insured person’s death was not intentional but was accidental. Or, maybe the insured person was elderly and confused the amount of a validly prescribed medication, resulting in accidentally taking a fatal amount. These situations, and many more, show that the life insurance company’s reasoning for denying a claim may be incorrect, or more complex.
Life insurance policies usually contain a provision that excludes certain types of deaths. These excluded deaths typically include deaths that were the result of a drug overdose. Life insurance companies may deny a beneficiary’s claim on a life insurance policy where the insured person passed away due to a drug overdose, reasoning that the insured person intentionally overdosed on drugs or that the insured person misrepresented their drug addiction on their life insurance application. This, however, may not be the case. Beneficiaries need to investigate the insured person’s death to determine whether the death was accidental. This information may help with overturning a life insurance company’s denial of a claim.
We will fight your denial and win.