Insurance You Can Trust

Trust is definitely a commodity in short supply during this economic crisis. We no longer trust our banks, investment firms and large company presidents. With the huge bailouts, increased taxpayer burdens and swelling national debt, we no longer trust that our children will have a better standard of living than the one we used to enjoy. And our politicians....

It is nice to know that there are still some things in which you can place your trust, such as GAWDA's Group Life Insurance Trust Program. 2009 is the program's 50^th year. In most single employer group life insurance programs, monies remaining after claims have been paid revert back to the insurance company. Not so with the large GAWDA association plan!

Plan participants reap the benefit of dividends. In 49 of those 50 years, the program has been able to pay a dividend that reduced participants' premiums in the coming year. This year, the dividend and premium reduction is 23 percent. During the past seven years, an astounding $3,344,000 has been returned to participating GAWDA members to help pay premiums. This represents an average annual dividend of 26 percent. The annual dividend is on top of rate reductions of 15 percent in 2002 and 10 percent in 2004. If you are not a member of the GAWDA Insurance Trust, have your premiums decreased 25 percent in the last seven years while consistently returning dividends to you at year end?

The program continues to grow to record levels of participation. There are currently 115 GAWDA member companies, with 6,500 employees and 4,500 dependents in the program. Total insurance coverage is $350 million. In 2008, a total of 25 claims for $1,031,500 were paid to both employee and dependent claim beneficiaries. They ranged in payment from $10,000 to $250,000. Through the decades, policies provided through the foresight of GAWDA employers have paid almost $30,000,000 in claims to some 600 beneficiaries, in many instances the GAWDA claim being the only family insurance.

Standard Program Benefits

• Life insurance benefit equal to 1x, 1.5x or 1.75x of W-2 earnings, subject to a maximum of $250,000.
• Double indemnity (twice the life insurance limit) for accidental death or dismemberment ($250,000 maximum). Triple indemnity for occupational accidental death or dismemberment ($250,000 maximum).
• At no additional cost, dependent life insurance coverage for all insured employees with limits of $10,000 for a spouse, $5,000 for dependent children under age 19 and $500 for dependent children ages 15 days to 6 months.
• At no additional cost, the Wellness Program provides to each employee Take Care of Yourself, a best-selling book and resource guide for managing health self-care, and Vitality, a monthly magazine featuring medical care and lifestyle information to help employees and their families stay fit and healthy.

If your company is not in the GAWDA program, we suggest that you contact Malvenia Avery (mavery@fernley.com) to request an age/wage census data sheet and return it to Headquarters for a quote on one, or all three, of the “standard” plans. Larger companies (over 50 employees) should discuss your current program with GAWDA Group Life Insurance Consultant Dave Irving (610-566-4851) to determine if MetLife can prepare a “tailor-made” plan that will match or exceed your current group life plan.

GAWDA's Group Life Insurance Trust program has a 50-year history of earning and deserving your trust.