Section 3.24 Group Life Insurance Plans

• Library: Insurance Practice 2015

“Group” insurance as a plan of insurance has become more and more popular since the end of World War II. In a typical group insurance situation, an employer will take out a group life insurance policy with an insurance company covering its employees. Those employees who participate in a group insurance arrangement are issued “Certificates of Insurance,” which are merely descriptive of the policy benefits and generally are not in and of themselves binding agreements between the insurance company and the employee. Satz v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 225 S.W.2d 480, 482 (Mo. App. E.D. 1949). Instead, the contract is actually between the insurer and the employer for the benefit of the employer’s employees. Id.; Bellamy v. Pac. Mut. Life Ins. Co., 651 S.W.2d 490, 493 (Mo. banc 1983).

Group insurance is popular because of the lower premiums made possible...