A death benefit in some life insurance policies that may be paid before the policyholder’s actual death. Generally speaking, one may use the accelerated death benefit only to defray medical expenses should the policyholder be diagnosed with a terminal illness. An Accelerated Death Benefit (ADB) is a benefit that can be added to your life insurance policy. It can provide cash advances against your death benefit while you are still alive. You can use this benefit if you have a terminal illness, need nursing home care permanently, or can’t perform activities of daily living for yourself. Some examples of activities of daily living include eating, bathing, dressing, and using the bathroom. There might be spending limits (caps) on ADB policies. You may want to check this out before getting an ADB policy.The idea of the accelerated death benefit originated in the 1980s to help pay for some of the medical expenses of AIDS patients.A benefit that can be attached to a life insurance policy that enables the policy holder to receive cash advances against the death benefit in the case of being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Many individuals who choose the accelerated death benefit have less than one year to live and use the money for treatments and other costs needed to stay alive.
Choosing an insurance policy with an accelerated death benefit allows the policy holder to pay for their daily living in an effort to make it the most comfortable while also allowing the holder to look after his or her family once they pass away. This type of benefit was originally started in the late 1980s in an attempt to alleviate the financial pressures of those that were diagnosed with AIDS.
Some policies might have this option available even though it’s not mentioned in the contract.