Life insurance will not be denied to those who receive COVID-19 vaccines
Life insurance will not be denied to those who receive COVID-19 vaccines
(Reuters) - Medical misinformation on social media claims that life insurance companies will deny payouts to any deceased person who had taken the COVID-19 vaccine. This false claim has been dispelled by the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) and other regulators.
One post making this claim says, “My friends aunt recently died from the COVID vaccine. She was denied her life insurance because… she willingly took an EXPERIMENTAL vaccine.” It provides no names or supporting evidence.
In a March 12 press release the ACLI responded to similar claims, saying, “The fact is that life insurers do not consider whether or not a policyholder has received a COVID vaccine when deciding whether to pay a claim. Life insurance policy contracts are very clear on how policies work, and what cause, if any, might lead to the denial of a benefit. A vaccine for COVID-19 is not one of them.”
“Policyholders should rest assured that nothing has changed in the claims-paying process as a result of COVID-19 vaccinations,” the ACLI added.
As of late May, half of Americans had received at least one of their COVID-19 vaccination shots while half the citizens above the age of 18 in the country had been fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Reuters previously debunked claims that the COVID-19 vaccine was “experimental” and unsafe and claims that the vaccines cause death.
The claim appears to have begun circulating in March 2021. Other publications have debunked the claim, including PolitiFact, Forbes and Factcheck.org.
State level organizations that have also addressed this misinformation include the Louisiana Department of Insurance, the New York Department of Financial Services and the Texas Department of Insurance.
VERDICT
False. Receiving a COVID-19 vaccine will not affect one’s ability to receive life insurance.
