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NEW YORK, N.Y., March 25, 2021 – In the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted working Americans to not only think about their overall health, but how a serious illness can set them back financially. To help prepare consumers who worry about having enough protection due to COVID-19 or other variants, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® ( Guardian Life ) has expanded its Critical Illness insurance coverage to include infectious diseases.

Critical Illness insurance helps cover medical expenses that primary health insurance may not cover if one experiences a serious illness.  With Coronavirus as a covered infectious disease, the benefit will include COVID-19 as well as potential future coronavirus strains.

“As a result of COVID-19, employers have started to realize the importance of voluntary benefits, like critical illness, and how these benefits can help increase the overall financial security of their workforce,” said Dawn Sandt, Director of Supplemental, at Guardian Life.  “At Guardian, we are constantly evolving our products to help ensure that employees and their families can remain focused on their health and recovery instead of how they are going to pay for unforeseen medical expenses.”

In addition to covering Coronavirus, eleven other infectious diseases are covered: Antibiotic resistant bacteria (including MRSA), Diphtheria, Encephalitis, Legionnaire’s Disease, Lyme Disease, Malaria, Meningitis, Necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating bacteria), Osteomyelitis, Rabies, and Tuberculosis.

How the benefit works

The new Infectious Contagious Disease Benefit option will pay 30 percent of the lump sum Critical Illness benefit when a covered person is:

  • Diagnosed with an infectious or contagious disease by a doctor while insured by Guardian, and

  • Confined to a hospital due to an infectious or contagious disease for 5 or more consecutive days. Since the median hospital duration lasts 8 days, our benefit is available to customers when they need it most.1

To learn more about Guardian Critical Illness2, click here.

About Guardian®

Every day, Guardian provides Americans the security they deserve through our insurance and wealth management products and services. Since our founding in 1860, our long-term view has helped our customers prepare for whatever life brings whether starting a family, planning for the future or taking care of employees. Today, we're a Fortune 250 mutual company and a leading provider of life, disability, dental, and other benefits for individuals, at the workplace and through government sponsored programs. The Guardian community of over 9,000 employees and our network of over 2,500 financial representatives is committed to serving with expertise when, where and how our clients need us. Our commitments rest on a strong financial foundation, which at year-end 2019 included $9.3 billion in capital and $1.7 billion in operating income. For more information, please visit guardianlife.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

For Media Inquiries, contact:

Brenda Mendoza
Guardian Life
Email: mediarelations@glic.com

1 If the covered person dies before completing 5 consecutive day(s) of hospital confinement, we will pay this benefit so long as all other terms of this benefit are satisfied.

2 The new Infectious Diseases benefit is currently available in 41 states.

GUARDIAN® is a registered trademark of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America ® © Copyright 2021 The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, New York, N.Y.

Guardian’s Critical Illness Insurance is underwritten and issued by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, New York, NY. Products are not available in all states. Policy limitations and exclusions apply. Optional riders and/or features may incur additional costs. Plan documents are the final arbiter of coverage. We do not pay this benefit for any disease or illness that is not specifically listed in the definition of infectious or contagious diseases. Guardian covers only the first occurrence of an infectious disease, and pays one benefit per person, per lifetime.

The policy has exclusions and limitations that may impact the eligibility for or entitlement to benefits under each covered condition. See the certificate of coverage or contact your sales representative for full details.