MetLife Advantages℠
Your life insurance benefits include access to MetLife Advantages℠—a comprehensive suite of valuable services for support, planning and protection when you need it most at no cost to you.
Services include:
To help you, your dependents, and your beneficiaries cope with loss. Your MetLife employer-paid life insurance plan offers you, your dependents, and your beneficiaries access to grief counseling1 sessions and funeral related concierge services to help cope with a loss – at no extra cost.
Grief counseling services provide confidential and professional support during a difficult time to help address personal and funeral planning needs. At your time of need, you and your dependents have 24/7 access to a work/life counselor. You simply call a dedicated 24/7 toll-free number to speak with a licensed professional experienced in helping individuals who have suffered a loss. Sessions can either take place in-person or by phone. You can have up to five face-to-face grief counseling sessions per event to discuss any situation you perceive as a major loss, including but not limited to death, bankruptcy, divorce, terminal illness, or losing a pet.1 In addition, you have access to funeral assistance for locating funeral homes and cemetery options, obtaining funeral cost estimates and comparisons, and more. You can access these services by calling 1-855-609-9989 or log on to https://griefcounseling.harrisrothenberg.net/default.aspx (Username: metlifeassist; Password: support).
Download this helpful Funeral Planning Guide at www.metlife.com/funeralguide.
Ensuring your final wishes are honored. As a MetLife group life policyholder, you and your family may have access to funeral discounts, planning and support to help honor a loved one’s life - at no additional cost to you. Dignity Memorial provides you and your loved ones access to discounts of up to 10% off of funeral, cremation and cemetery services through the largest network of funeral homes and cemeteries in the United States. When using a Dignity Memorial Network you have access to convenient planning services - either online at www.finalwishesplanning.com, by phone (1-866-853-0954), or by paper - to help make final wishes easier to manage. You also have access to assistance from compassionate funeral planning experts to help guide you and your family in making confident decisions when planning ahead as well as bereavement travel services - available 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year - to assist with time-sensitive travel arrangements to be with loved ones.
For immediate access to death proceeds. The Total Control Account® (TCA) settlement option provides your loved ones with a safe and convenient way to manage the proceeds of a life claim payments of $5,000 or more, backed by the financial strength and claims paying ability of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. TCA death claim payments relieve beneficiaries of the need to make immediate decisions about what to do with a lump-sum check and enable them to have the flexibility to access funds as needed while earning a guaranteed minimum interest rate on the proceeds as they assess their financial situations. Call 1-800-638-7283 for more information about options available to you.
To help ensure your decisions are carried out. When you enroll for supplemental term life coverage, you will automatically receive access to Will Preparation Services at no extra cost to you. Both you and your spouse/domestic partner will have unlimited in-person or telephone access to one of Hyatt Legal Plans’ nationwide network of 14,000+ participating attorneys for preparation of or updating a will, living will or power of attorney.* When you use a participating plan attorney, there will be no charge for the services.* Like life insurance, a carefully prepared will (simple or complex), living will and power of attorney are important.
- A will lets you define your most important decisions, such as who will care for your children or inherit your property.
- A living will ensures your wishes are carried out and protects your loved ones from having to make very difficult and personal medical decisions by themselves. Also called an “advanced directive,” it is a document authorized by statutes in all states that allows you to provide written instructions regarding use of extraordinary life-support measures and to appoint someone as your proxy or representative to make decisions on maintaining extraordinary life-support if you should become incapacitated and unable to communicate your wishes.
- Powers of attorney allow you to plan ahead by designating someone you know and trust to act on your behalf in the event of unexpected occurrences or if you become incapacitated call 1-800-821-6400 and a Client Service Representative will assist you.
Personal service and compassion assistance to help probate your and your spouse’s/domestic partner’s estates. MetLife Estate Resolution ServicesSM provides probate services in person or over the phone to the representative (executor or administrator) of the deceased employee's estate and the estate of the employee's spouse/domestic partner. Estate Resolution Services include preparation of documents and representation at court proceedings needed to transfer the probate assets from the estate to the heirs and completion of correspondence necessary to transfer non-probate assets. ERS covers participating plan attorneys’ fees for telephone and face-to-face consultations or for the administrator or executor to discuss general questions about the probate process.
Self-service online legal document preparation. Employees and spouses/domestic partners have access to WillsCenter.com, an online document service to prepare and update a will, living will, power of attorney, funeral directive, memorandum of wishes or HIPAA authorization form in a secure 24/7 environment at no additional cost. This service is available with all life coverages. Log on to www.willscenter.com to register as a new user.
So you can keep your coverage even if you leave your current employer. Should you leave Columbus City Schools for any reason, and your Supplemental insurance under this plan terminates, you will have an opportunity to continue group term coverage (“portability”) under a different policy, subject to plan design and state availability. Rates will be based on the experience of the ported group and MetLife will bill you directly. Rates may be higher than your current rates. To take advantage of this feature, you must have coverage of at least $10,000 up to a maximum of $2,000,000. Generally, there is no minimum time for you to be covered by the plan before you can take advantage of the portability feature. Please see your employer or certificate for specific details. Please note that if you experience an event that makes you eligible for portable coverage, please call a MetLife representative at 1-888-252-3607 for more information.
Assistance identifying solutions for your financial situations. Transition Solutions provides assistance for important, time-sensitive benefit and financial decisions due to change in benefits including:
- Group Life Insurance Continuation Options
- Lump-sum distributions
- Reduction in benefits for active or retired employees
- Benefits coordination due to layoffs, merger, acquisition or bankruptcy
- Define Contribution Plan termination
- Retiree Group Life elimination
Additional plan features:
For access to funds during a difficult time. If you become terminally ill and are diagnosed with 12 months or less to live, you have the option to receive up to 80% of your life insurance proceeds. This can go a long way towards helping your family meet medical and other expenses at a difficult time. Amounts not accelerated will continue under your employer’s plan for as long as you remain eligible per the certificate requirements and the group policy remains in effect. The accelerated life insurance benefits offered under your certificate are intended to qualify for favorable tax treatment under Section 101(g) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C.Sec 101(g)).8
Accelerated Benefits Option is not the same as long term care insurance (LTC). LTC provides nursing home care, home-health care, personal or adult day care for individuals above age 65 or with chronic or disabling conditions that require constant supervision.
For protection after your coverage terminates. You can generally convert your group term life insurance benefits to an individual whole life insurance policy if your coverage terminates in whole or in part due to your retirement, termination of employment, or change in employee class. Conversion is available on all group life insurance coverages. If you experience an event that makes you eligible to convert your coverage, please call 1-877-275-6387 to begin the conversion process.
Offering continued coverage when you need it most. If you become Totally Disabled, you may qualify to continue certain insurance. You may also be eligible for waiver of your basic and supplemental term life until you reach age 65, die, or recover from your disability, whichever is sooner. Total Disability or Totally Disabled means you are unable to do your job and any other job for which you are fit by education, training or experience due to injury or sickness. The Total Disability must begin before age 60, and your waiver will begin after you have satisfied a 6-month waiting period of continuous disability. The waiver of premium will end when you turn age 65, die, or recover. Please note that this benefit is only available after you have participated in the supplemental term life plan for one year and it is not available on dependent coverage. This one-year requirement applies to new participants in the plan. If you return to work after completing part or all of the 6-month waiting period and later cease active work due to the same or a related Total Disability while your coverage is being continued, you will be given credit for the prior partial or total completion of the waiting period and it will be considered a continuation of the original Total Disability. This means that if you completed the waiting period of continuous disability in the original period of disability, you will not need to complete another one.
- You must notify MetLife of the later period of cessation of active work within 12 months of when that period began.
- The amount of insurance being continued will be the same as during the original period of disability, subject to any reductions in coverage amount due to age.