The Local 72-147 Life Insurance Benefit

I want to write to you today about one of the benefits of your membership in our Local – the $2000 Death Benefit. We are one of the last of the AFM Locals that are still maintaining this type of benefit for our members. If you are still a member in good standing at the time of your death, all your beneficiary needs to do is provide us with an original of the death certificate, and we will take care of the rest. We have a Death Benefit Fund set up in our own Musicians Federal Credit Union to which we contribute periodically from the General Fund, so it is a self-funded benefit, not connected with any insurance company.

We do have a Beneficiary Card that we urge every member to make sure they have filled out and returned.  We print one in every newsletter that you can cut out or copy.  Fill it out and mail it to us, or scan and email it to me (apino@musiciansdfw.org). You can download one from the website as well by clicking HERE and uploading it back to us there, or you can print it out.  These cards are good for 20 years, so if you think you have not filled one out in that amount of time, please check with me.  You can also check your profile page on the website to see who is listed as your beneficiary (this is visible only to you, it is not public).

If your card is more than 20 years old, or if you never do fill one out, the benefit can still be paid to your estate, just not to a specific beneficiary. However, it is much better to designate a specific beneficiary on our card, as this makes it much easier for them to receive the money.  Even if you don’t designate a beneficiary, please let someone in your family know about this benefit.

One more thing – there has been quite a bit of confusion caused about this benefit because of a separate benefit that is also offered by an insurance company called American Income Life.  They are a union friendly company who offer free of charge an additional $3000 benefit in cases of accidental death or dismemberment. They send mailers out about this benefit that look like they come from our office, and when you fill out their card and return it to them, the catch is that they want to come to your house to try to sell you some other products. We want to make sure you understand that this is NOT the same card as ours, and that you do not need to fill theirs out and let them come to your home – this has nothing to do with our Local’s $2000 benefit. In the last few years, AIL has also grown more aggressive in approaching AFM members.  If you tell them no, and they keep calling you, please let us know.  It is a nice additional benefit that they offer, and they have been a help to some of our members in the past, but we do not want them harassing our members.