Principal Financial Life Insurance Company is the life insurance part of the Principal Financial Group. Principal is a big company that handles it life insurance claims out of Des Moines, Iowa. Principal sells big life insurance policies both through employers, creating ERISA issues, and through agents, which are individual policies.
Principal Life will investigate the big four life insurance claim questions. Was the policy paid for? Was the beneficiary clearly stated? Was the death within two years of the policy starting? Were drugs or alcohol involved? There are some differences between life insurance claims on policies through work and those people buy directly from the company. We know the differences and will be sure the Principal doesn’t get into areas that are not fair for investigation.
We have seen Principal obtain lots of past medical records, when investigating a life insurance claim. Principal, like other life insurance companies, gets lots of medical records. The insurance company is looking for some medical test or doctor note that shows a condition that the person did not talk about in the application. A life insurance policy application has many questions about medical history. If the life insurance company can find something that they think is not the same as on the application–they call it a misrepresentation–and use that to rescind the policy. What is policy rescission–it is like the policy never happened. If you get a medical records authorization as part of a life insurance investigation, this indicates there may be possibility the policy will be voided.
Principal, like the other large insurance companies selling to many people in California, will check to see that the policy premiums have been paid. While that sounds simple, sometimes it is not. If your loved one paid for the insurance through their work, but got sick or left the employer, there is a certain amount of time the policy may continue. There is right to convert the policy to an individual policy. An individual policy, where your insured bought the insurance through an agent, will have clearer requirements for payment and cancellation. Cancellation of a life insurance policy for non-payment, especially in California, requires very specific notice and timing. If your insured one passed close to the time of the cancellation, you should have us review that timing. There are times that the life insurance company gets it wrong, or has not done what it must do, and we have gotten life insurance claims paid even when the life insurance company says it was too late.
Principal will really look for exclusions in the life insurance policy contract, especially if there was an accident involving alcohol or drugs. If your insured has life insurance policy language about the involvement of alcohol, it is very important to have a qualified life insurance lawyer look at the policy and the facts. We have had claims where the insurance company denied the policy on the basis of an illegal “drug” use but the testing was not specific enough. Because of the type of testing done, we proved that the result could have been from an ordinary medication. Our client was paid the policy benefits. There are many other specifics about testing for alcohol and drugs that may change what a life insurance does with their first reaction–to not pay the claim.
Principal is a publicly traded stock company which may create financial pressures for it. Even though Principal has more than $800 billion assets, and about $15 billion in revenues, they can investigate life insurance claims closely. Even the largest of life insurance companies, like Principal Life, will investigate these big four life insurance claim questions hard. If you have a claim with Principal, and it is not simply paid quickly, you should contact us to have a free consultation and review about all the particulars of your claim.
