Life Insurance Dictionary
Maturity Date. The date at which the face amount of a Life Insurance policy becomes payable by reason of either death or endowment.
Maturity Value. The amount payable to a living insured at the end of an endowment period or to the owner of a Whole Life policy if he lives past a certain age.
Medical Examination. The examination of an applicant for insurance or a claimant by a physician who acts in the capacity of the insurer's agent.
Medical Examiner. The physician who examines an applicant or claimant on behalf of the insurer and as an agent of the insurer.
Medical Information Bureau (MIB). A data pool service that stores coded information on the health histories of persons who have applied for insurance from subscribing companies in the past. Most Life and Health insurers subscribe to this bureau to get more complete underwriting information.
- Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT).
- An association of Life Insurance agents who qualify by selling $1 million worth or more of Life Insurance coverage. The policies must meet certain qualification standards, and applicants must be members of the National Association of Life Underwriters. (LI)
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- Misstatement of Age. (1) Giving the wrong age for oneself on an application for Life and Health Insurance or for a beneficiary who is to receive benefits on a basis involving his life contingency. (2) A provision in most Life and Health policies setting forth the action to be taken if a misstatement of age is discovered after the policy is issued. This is one of the uniform provisions for Individual Health Insurance policies.
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- Monthly Administration Fee. In Universal Life insurance, an administrative fee is charged each month to cover administrative expenses.
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- Mortality Rate. The number of deaths in a group of people, usually expressed as deaths per thousand. It can be the rate for the total population, called the crude mortality rate, or it can be refined by factors such as age groupings or causes of deaths. Same as Death Rate.
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- Mortality Table. A table showing the incidence of death at specified ages. It shows the number of persons in each age group that die, expressed in terms of deaths per thousand, and based on the deaths in a population of a million persons.
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- Mortgage Insurance. In Life and Health Insurance, a policy covering a mortgagor from which the benefits are intended (1) to pay off the balance due on a mortgage upon the death of the insured, or (2) to meet the payments on a mortgage as they fall due in the case of his death or disability. Also called Mortgage Redemption Insurance.
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- National Association of Life Underwriters (NALU). An association of Life Insurance agents, the activities of which center on the welfare and education of agents and legislation affecting agents.
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- Nonforfeiture Values. Those values in a Life Insurance policy that by law the policy owner cannot forfeit even if he ceases to pay the premiums. These benefits are the cash surrender value, the loan value, the paid-up insurance value, and the extended term insurance value. The policy owner may choose one of these nonforfeiture options, but even if he fails to do so, the one specified in the contract for such a case automatically goes into effect.
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- Nonmedical (Non-Med). A contract of Life or Health Insurance underwritten on the basis of an insured's statement of his health with no medical examination required.
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- Ownership. All rights, benefits and privileges under life insurance policies are controlled by their owners. Policy owners may or may not be the insureds. Ownership may be assigned or transferred by written request of the current owner.
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- Ownership Provision. A provision that a policy may be owned by someone other than the insured.
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- Permanent Life Insurance. A term loosely applied to Life Insurance policy forms other than Group and Term, usually Cash Value Life Insurance, such as endowments and Whole or Ordinary Life policies.
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- Policy Fee. (1) A one-time charge added to the first premium to help defray acquisition costs, now illegal in many states. (2) A flat, per policy charge that does not change with the size of the policy and thus serves as a form of quantity discount. Various insurers call it by other names, such as quantity discount factor and quantity adjustment fee.
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- Preauthorization Check Plan. A premium-paying arrangement by which the policy owner authorizes the insurer to draft money from his or her bank account for the payments. This is usually done on a monthly basis.
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- Primary Beneficiary. The beneficiary named as first to receive proceeds or benefits from a policy when they become due.
