The 20 questions working families actually ask.

For most union group life plans, coverage ends or is substantially reduced at retirement. A plan carrying $200,000 at 58 often drops to $10,000 by 65 and zero by 70. Check your Summary Plan Description for the exact step-down schedule. See the full union guide →

Group life insurance is generally not portable. When you leave an employer or bargaining unit, most plans offer a 31-day conversion window to an individual policy — usually at a much higher rate than buying on the open market. Individual whole life policies are fully portable.

Most union group plans provide 1–2 times your annual salary. For a $75,000 earner, that's $75,000–$150,000 of death benefit — which fills the floor but rarely covers a mortgage plus 15–20 years of income replacement.

No — keep your group plan. Supplement it. Group life is usually employer-paid or low-cost and covers you while you're employed. An individual whole life policy fills the gaps (retirement, portability, amount) without replacing what's already working.

Term life covers a fixed period (10–30 years), has no cash value, and expires worthless if you outlive it. Whole life covers your entire lifetime, locks your premium at purchase age, and builds cash value you can borrow against. Whole is more expensive per dollar of death benefit but does things term can't.

Whole life — because the gap you're filling is at retirement and beyond, and term policies usually expire at or before that point. Whole life is designed to be there when group coverage ends.

Cash value is a savings component inside a whole life policy that grows tax-deferred over decades. You can borrow against it (at a set interest rate) for emergencies, a down payment, or retirement income — without triggering a taxable event.

No medical exam is required on the simplified-issue products we place, at most coverage levels. Qualification uses a short set of health questions — no physical, no blood draw, no multi-week underwriting. Those questions are not standardized between companies, which is why we compare your answers against each carrier's guidelines before anything is submitted.

Most managed health conditions do not disqualify you. Hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and arthritis are commonly approved at standard rates, and treated mental health conditions are frequently approved as well — though how each is treated varies by carrier, which is the whole reason to compare before submitting. Answer every health question on the application completely and truthfully, including anything about mental health treatment: a policy issued on an incomplete answer can be rescinded during the contestability period. A licensed agent can walk the questions with you first.

Active cancer treatment, recent heart attack or stroke, insulin-dependent diabetes with complications, and some severe chronic conditions may require a fully underwritten policy with exam. Even then, options usually exist — just at different rate classes.

The three biggest factors are age at issue, health class, and coverage amount. Age is the largest lever — a policy at 35 costs roughly half what the same policy costs at 50. Tobacco use roughly doubles premium.

No. Whole life premiums are locked at purchase. The amount you pay at 35 is the amount you pay at 75. This is one of the most important differences from term and group coverage.

As an illustration for a healthy non-smoker, figures around $75/mo at age 35, $110/mo at 45 and $175/mo at 55 are typical of the market. These are illustrations, not quotes or offers of insurance — your actual premium depends on your age, your state, your health class, the product and which carrier the application goes to. Get a real quote from a licensed agent; online estimators are unreliable.

Timelines are set by the carrier that issued the policy, and most pay a clean claim within a few weeks of receiving a complete package — typically a certified death certificate and the carrier's claim form. A claim filed inside the two-year contestability period, or one that needs an investigation, takes longer. Your policy document states the carrier's own procedure, and we help the beneficiary file either way.

Most policyholders name a spouse as primary beneficiary and children as contingent. Naming a minor child directly creates legal complications — use a trust or adult custodian instead. Review beneficiaries after any marriage, divorce, or new child.

No — life insurance death benefits are generally not subject to federal income tax. They may be subject to estate tax if the policy is owned by the deceased and the total estate exceeds the federal basic exclusion amount ($15 million per person for deaths in 2026, indexed annually).

No. United Trust Life is an independent insurance agency, appointed with multiple life insurance carriers, and we place each client with the carrier whose underwriting and pricing fit their situation. We are not owned by, controlled by, or exclusive to any insurance company.

We are licensed in 17 states: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Which carriers and products are available depends on the state, so reach out to Justin to confirm what can be written where you live.

No. Eligibility checks, quotes, and 15-minute consultations are free. There's no obligation to buy and no pressure from UTL's licensed agents.

Fill out the eligibility form on the homepage or book a 15-minute call. A licensed agent will go through your options with you, usually within one business day.