The correct name should be accidental death insurance!!!

“Life insurance after retirement? Think again. If you can’t keep up with the premiums, it’s not life insurance — it’s accidental death insurance. They take your money, but when you need them most, they vanish.” My story: My late husband took out a life insurance policy in 2012. After years of faithfully paying the premiums, the insurance company suddenly doubled the premium. I emailed them and asked why. Their feedback — given over the phone — was that he now carried a higher risk. I then emailed them again and said that my husband was indirectly retired and no longer working all over Africa. Then they said: They had an agreement with him (which we knew nothing about) that the premium would not increase for a number of years, and that period had now expired.

The monthly premium increased from about R2,500 to R4,900. I sent them another email, and then they said he was now a risk (this was just after Covid). So we continued paying.

In July 2025 my husband passed away at 60, but as fate would have it, I started experiencing financial difficulties in February. We struggled to keep up with the premiums because my husband was no longer working. Yes, 1Life did send SMS messages to his phone twice a month — which he didn’t read (because who still reads SMS's these days) — and they sent emails informing us that the policy was in arrears.

I asked them how they could assist us. They continued sending the debit order to the bank every month until 1 July 2025, but it was returned unpaid. On 10 July I received an email saying that the policy had been cancelled. My husband sent an email back asking what could be done to bring the policy up to date. They only responded 10 days later to the second email. And my husband passed away on the 11th.

I contacted them and asked if there was any way they could help me. Their feedback: Unfortunately not, the policy had already lapsed at the end of March. "If you don’t pay, the policy lapses immediately."

My warning: DO NOT TAKE OUT A POLICY IF YOU THINK IT MUST WORK FOR YOU AFTER RETIREMENT (unless you are willing or able to continue paying the monthly premium). Regardless of how many years you pay, they offer no premium holiday or any other assistance when you encounter financial problems.

At the very least they could pay out the funeral benefit that forms part of the policy, while they simply take the hard-earned money you paid in for years.