Accidental death and dismemberment insurance: what it pays
Enter the principal sum of your AD&D coverage and choose what the accident caused. The payment on the schedule of the federal employees’ plan appears at once.
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
Payment under the FEGLI-style schedule
$50,000
50% of the principal sum
| Death | $100,000 |
| One hand, foot or eye | $50,000 |
| Two or more | $100,000 |
| Most for one accident | $100,000 |
Schedule of the federal employees’ plan (OPM). Private policies print their own schedule, often with more lines; read yours. Death from illness pays nothing under AD&D.
Compiled by Radif Partners · How the figures are built · IRS rules and BLS plan data read November 7, 2026
Accidental death and dismemberment insurance pays a fixed sum when an accident causes death or a loss listed in the policy, such as a hand, a foot or the sight of an eye. It pays nothing for death from illness. The amounts follow a schedule expressed as shares of the principal sum. Under the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance program, as the Office of Personnel Management publishes it, death pays the full amount, the loss of one hand, one foot or the sight of one eye pays half, two or more such losses pay the full amount, and one accident never pays more than the full amount. In the OPM example, an employee with $42,000 of basic insurance who loses an arm receives $21,000, then $21,000 more when sight in both eyes is lost from the same accident, $42,000 in all, and no accidental death benefit when she dies of that accident. Private policies print their own schedule. Dismemberment payments are excluded from income even when an employer pays the premium (IRS Publication 525).
A schedule, not a measure of need
An AD&D policy pays a sum fixed in advance, the principal sum, or a share of it, when an accident causes one of the losses listed in its schedule. It does not look at your income, your expenses or how long you are away from work. That makes it simple to read and easy to misjudge: the schedule decides everything, and an event not on it pays nothing. Group life insurance at work often includes AD&D at the same amount as the life benefit, and voluntary AD&D can be bought on top.
The calculator uses the schedule that the federal government publishes for its own employees, because it is the one public schedule that can be read in full and cited (OPM, FEGLI Handbook). Private policies follow the same logic with their own lines and percentages.
| Loss from one accident | Share of the principal sum | On $100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Death | 100% | $100,000 |
| One hand, one foot or the sight of one eye | 50% | $50,000 |
| Two or more of these | 100% | $100,000 |
| Most for a single accident | 100% | $100,000 |
The OPM example, step by step
The FEGLI handbook gives a worked case. Ileana, 46, has Basic coverage with a basic insurance amount of $42,000. She loses an arm in a climbing accident and receives $21,000, half the amount. Six months later she loses the sight of both eyes from the same accident and receives another $21,000: the total, $42,000, equals her basic amount, even though she has suffered three losses. When she dies two weeks later from injuries of that accident, the regular life insurance death benefit of $42,000 is paid, but no accidental death benefit, because any further payment for that accident would exceed the cap. The calculator reproduces the case: choose one loss, then death from the same accident.
Your AD&D payment
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
Payment under the FEGLI-style schedule
$42,000
| Death | $42,000 |
| One hand, foot or eye | $21,000 |
| Two or more | $42,000 |
| Most for one accident | $42,000 |
Tax on the payment
A death benefit paid to a beneficiary is excluded from income under section 101. A dismemberment payment is excluded under section 105(c): IRS Publication 525 lists compensation for permanent loss or loss of use of a part or function of the body among benefits that are not taxable even if the employer pays for the plan, provided the payment is based on the injury and not on the time you are absent from work. The premium itself is a different matter: AD&D coverage paid by an employer is generally not taxable to the employee, while coverage you buy is paid with after-tax money.
What to check in your policy
Read the definition of accident and the time limit: losses usually have to occur within a stated number of days of the accident. Read the schedule line by line, including partial losses such as fingers, speech or hearing, and the exclusions, often listed as acts of war, self-inflicted injury, intoxication or certain sports. Check whether the coverage ends when you leave the employer, and whether it can be converted. The accident insurance page covers policies that pay smaller sums for injuries and their care, and the hybrid page life policies that also pay for care. The Bureau of Labor Statistics survey used across this site covers 37 groups of workers for disability and long-term care, not AD&D, so no access figure is shown here.