Principal: More Choice and Flexibility with Group Life & AD&D

Effective July 1, 2026, Principal is enhancing their Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) flexibility available for new cases. These enhancements will provide employers with more options when offering AD&D coverage alongside a group life policy on either an employer-paid or voluntary basis. Employers may still choose whether to offer AD&D*¹.

What’s changing:

Group Term Life (GTL)

• Employers can now offer employees a matching or non-matching Life and AD&D benefit.
  • Non-matching example: $50,000 GTL and $100,000 of AD&D coverage

Voluntary Term Life (VTL)

• In addition to offering a plan design for employees and spouses with an automatic matching VTL and AD&D benefit, employers can now offer employees the following choices*²: 
  1. Option to select VTL coverage with or without a matching AD&D benefit, or
  2. Flexibility to select non-matching AD&D coverage that is different than their VTL amount – either more or less.
     • Non-matching example: The employee elects $100,000 of VTL and $150,000 of AD&D coverage. The employee may also elect $50,000 of spouse VTL and $100,000 of AD&D coverage.

Note: The enhanced AD&D options will be available for new cases beginning July 1, 2026. Existing cases will have access to amend their contract to offer these options at a later date.

*¹ AD&D cannot be elected on a standalone basis.

*² AD&D flexibility is not available in Montana and New Mexico. Spouse AD&D can only be elected if the employee elects AD&D and cannot exceed 50% or 100% of the employee’s coverage (varies at a case level).