Trustmark Universal Life with Long-Term Care (LTC) Solution
Navigating future healthcare needs requires a dynamic plan that handles multiple risks simultaneously. To help employees safeguard their long-term security, News Corp offers the Long-Term Care (LTC) Solution, a voluntary benefit plan underwritten by Trustmark Insurance Company. This permanent Universal Life insurance program is engineered with an integrated accelerated long-term care benefit rider.
Traditional term life insurance eventually expires after a set timeframe, and traditional standalone long-term care contracts operate on a strict “use-it-or-lose-it” basis. This hybrid plan eliminates those drawbacks entirely. If you maintain the contract and never require long-term care assistance, your chosen beneficiaries are guaranteed to receive a standard life insurance death benefit payout, and you retain full access to your policy’s built-in cash value accumulation.
The Strategic Care Timeline: Dual 25-Month Phases
When long-term care benefits are first activated, payments are initially drawn from the core Home Health and Long-Term Care Benefit Rider. This element sequentially accelerates and pays out 4% of your policy’s primary face amount directly to you each month. This initial mechanism sustains your care expenses for up to the first 25 months of qualified claims, effectively exhausting up to 100% of the primary death benefit value.
Once the primary timeline’s funds are completely spent, the Extension of Home Health and Long-Term Care Benefits Rider engages automatically without requiring an administrative request. This extension continues your monthly payments at the exact same financial terms for an additional 25 months. By layering these distinct phases, the contract establishes an absolute lifespan of living benefits stretching across 50 months total—yielding a maximum total care payout equal to 200% of your policy’s original face value.
| Structural Payout Rule | Qualified Care Settings | Covered Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) |
|---|---|---|
| The Payout Metric: Each qualifying month distributes 4% of the policy face value directly to the policyholder. (Example: A $200,000 policy yields $8,000 per month up to a max lifetime pool of $400,000). | • Institutional Care: Specialized nursing facilities and licensed assisted living communities | To qualify for care payouts, a physician must document a cognitive impairment or certify your inability to perform two or more of the following six ADLs |
| • Community & Home Care: Home health care agencies and adult day care services. | • Bathing: Washing via sponge bath, tub, or shower . | |
| • Continence: Managing bowel and bladder functions | ||
| • Dressing: Putting on/taking off clothes or braces . | ||
| • Eating: Feeding oneself or using a feeding tube . | ||
| • Toileting: Accessing the toilet and personal hygiene . | ||
| • Transferring: Moving in/out of a bed or chair. |
What sets this voluntary benefit apart are the specialized contractual riders built into the policy infrastructure to protect your wealth and accelerate your savings over time:
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Complete Death Benefit Safeguard: Under traditional accelerated plans, drawing money to pay for medical care permanently diminishes the legacy left for your family. To prevent this, the plan integrates a contractually mandated Benefit Restoration Rider. On a month-by-month basis, this rider systematically restores 100% of your primary face amount, death benefit, and accumulated cash values as you draw care claims. This ensures your underlying life insurance remaining for beneficiaries stays completely untouched by long-term care events.
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Terminal Illness Cash Advance: If you receive a medical diagnosis confirming an incurable sickness or condition expected to result in death within 24 months, the Accelerated Death Benefit Rider permits you to request an advance payout of up to 75% of your total death benefit. Once this terminal illness claim is approved, all regular policy premiums are entirely waived for the subsequent 24 months, guaranteeing the remaining coverage stays in force without out-of-pocket costs.
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Loyalty Cash Value Kickers: The policy functions as an asset builder that accumulates cash value based on steady premium funding. While the baseline assumptions credit interest at a 3.0% current rate (with a 1.5% absolute floor guarantee), long-term policyholders receive built-in loyalty bonuses. Beginning in the 11th certificate year, Trustmark may add an additional 0.5% bonus directly to your baseline interest rate. In the 16th year, this automated loyalty kicker scales up to a 1.0% bonus yield.
Locked Premium Rates vs. Full Individual Portability
Your regular premium rates are locked based on your exact attained age on the calendar date you enroll. Because your cost basis is completely fixed, your rate will never increase simply due to advancing age or shifting health profiles. Trustmark cannot modify your locked regular premium later, even if national interest rates decline or broad industry cost assumptions shift.
This policy features full structural portability. If you separate from News Corp due to retirement, voluntary job change, or corporate realignment, you retain 100% individual ownership of your policy. Your locked premium rates, structural coverage levels, and internal policy terms remain identical to when you were actively employed; you simply transition your billing method to pay premiums directly to the carrier.
To ensure smooth management of your policy, keep these core administrative parameters in mind:
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Cash Access Rules: After the first certificate year, you can withdraw cash from your accumulated value up to two times per certificate year. Each transaction requires a flat $25.00 administrative fee and cannot deplete your remaining cash value below an amount equal to two monthly policy deductions. Partial surrenders reduce your face amount and final death benefit dollar-for-dollar.
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Policy Loans: You may borrow against your cash balance at any time for a minimum loan amount of $100.00. Loans accrue a fixed annual interest rate of 8.0% on a daily basis. If your accumulated debt ever exceeds your current cash value, the policy will enter a grace period and face a structural lapse.
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Surrender Charge Timelines: Surrender charges apply solely during the first 14 certificate years of the policy, scaling down to zero after year 14. Note that if you manually request a policy face amount increase in the future, a brand-new, independent 14-year surrender charge schedule will apply strictly to that incremental coverage amount.
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Pre-Existing Conditions Clause: The long-term care rider features a strict six-month pre-existing condition exclusion. It will not pay living benefits for care resulting from a medical condition that was treated, diagnosed, or exhibited symptoms within the six months immediately prior to your policy’s effective date, if that care begins during the first six months of coverage.