Methods and systems for providing and underwriting life insurance benefits convertible into other benefits

Abstract

Method and system for providing a insurance policy with convertible benefits. The method includes receiving information to determine a first type of benefit which will be provided under a first type of insurance, a second type of benefit to be provided under a second type of insurance policy, and a conversion event. The method further includes computing a premium for an insurance policy which provides the first benefit before the conversion event and the second benefit after the occurrence of the conversion event, and the issuance of an insurance policy based on the computed premium.

1 . A computerized method for providing an insurance policy with convertible benefits, the method comprising:
 electronically receiving information for determining a life insurance benefit and a long term care benefit and at least one conversion event, wherein the life insurance benefit and the long term care benefit are provided by a single insurance policy, and wherein the life insurance benefit is converted to the long term care benefit upon occurrence of the at least one conversion event, the at least one conversion event including one of retirement of an insured, the insured reaching a given age, fulfilling a given length of service, and disability of the insured; and   electronically computing, using a processing device, the long term care benefit after the occurrence of the at least one conversion event, wherein the computed long term care benefit is a percentage of a face value of the life insurance benefit to be applied to the long term care benefit based on an expected cost of providing the long term care benefit and at least in part on a desired rate of return for a provider of the long term care benefit.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the face value of the life insurance benefit is based on a premium paid into the insurance policy for a given amount of months. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the premium is computed based on present value of a dollar paid in the given amount of months based on a given discount rate, probability that a person at age of issuance of the single insurance policy survives a number of months from a date of the issuance of the single insurance policy, and an annual mortality rate for a person at the age of issuance. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  comprising:
 estimating at least part of the life insurance benefit and the long term care benefit; and 
 computing a premium required to provide the estimated life insurance benefit before the occurrence of the at least one conversion event and the estimated long term care benefit after the occurrence of the at least one conversion event. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the life insurance benefit has a cash surrender value. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising receiving a premium paid into the insurance policy; and investing the received paid premium for accumulation. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the investing the received premium for accumulation produces an investment gain and the long term care benefit is funded at least in part by the investment gain. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving information comprises specifying at least one event triggering the life insurance benefit and at least one event triggering the long term care benefit. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein issuing the single insurance policy comprises issuing the insurance policy to provide the life insurance benefit upon the occurrence of the specified event triggering the life insurance benefit and to provide the long term care benefit upon the occurrence of the specified event triggering the long term care benefit. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving information for determining the life insurance and long term care benefits comprises receiving at least one designated beneficiary of the life insurance benefit and at least one designated beneficiary of the long term care benefit. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the designated beneficiary of the life insurance benefit is the same as the designated beneficiary of the long term care benefit. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the designated beneficiary of the life insurance benefit is different than the designated beneficiary of the long term care benefit. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the designated beneficiary of the life insurance benefit is an employer and the designated beneficiary of the long term care benefit is the insured. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving the information for determining the life insurance benefit comprises receiving at least one specified acceleration event accelerating the life insurance benefit. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein computing the long term care benefit comprises:
 computing a first premium to fund the life insurance benefit;   computing a second premium to fund the long term benefit; and   computing the long term care benefit based at least in part on the first and second premiums.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising identifying an expected date of the at least one conversion event and computing an expected remaining value of the life insurance benefit at the expected conversion event date. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  comprising computing a premium to allow for the expected remaining value of the life insurance benefit at the expected conversion date to be sufficient to cover fund the long term care benefit. 
     
     
         18 . A system for offering an insurance policy with convertible benefits, the system comprising:
 a user interface effective to receive information specifying a life insurance benefit and a long term care benefit and at least one conversion event, wherein the life insurance benefit and the long term care benefit are provided by a single insurance policy, and wherein the life insurance benefit is converted to the long term care benefit upon occurrence of the at least one conversion event;   a database connected to the user interface and effective to store the received information; and   a processor connected to the user interface and database, the processor effective to process the received information and to compute the long term care benefit after the occurrence of the at least one conversion event, wherein the computed long term care benefit is a percentage of a face value of the life insurance benefit to be applied to the long term care benefit based on an expected cost of providing the long term care benefit and at least in part on a desired rate of return for a provider of the long term care benefit.   
     
     
         19 . Non-transitory computer readable media comprising program code that when executed by a programmable processor causes execution of a method for providing an insurance policy with convertible benefits, the computer readable media comprising:
 computer program code for receiving information for determining a life insurance benefit and a long term care benefit and at least one conversion event, wherein the life insurance benefit and the long term care benefit are provided by a single insurance policy, and wherein the life insurance benefit is converted to the long term care benefit upon occurrence of the at least one conversion event, the at least one conversion event including one of retirement of an insured, the insured reaching a given age, fulfilling a given length of service, and disability of the insured; and   computer program code for computing the long term care benefit after the occurrence of the at least one conversion event, wherein the computed long term care benefit is a percentage of a face value of the life insurance benefit to be applied to the long term care benefit based on an expected cost of providing the long term care benefit and at least in part on a desired rate of return for a provider of the long term care benefit.