Prudential Reaches $100 Million Milestone in Paid Claims for Living Needs Benefit.

NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 1998--Bob collapsed at a family gathering. His family found out that he had a brain tumor. Doctors removed most of the tumor, but said Bob would not survive the year. Bob faced selling his small business to cover the living expenses for himself, his wife and their two young children. His family's financial future looked dismal. Fortunately, Bob had a Prudential life insurance policy and Living Needs Benefit rider that supplied the funds to stabilize the family's financial situation and gave Bob the peace of mind knowing that his family would be in sound financial shape after his death.

Gail was diagnosed with cancer and given a life expectancy of six months. The Living Needs Benefit on her Prudential policy allowed her to pay for expensive radiation treatment that enabled her to live long enough to witness the birth of her first grandchild. She also used the money to pre-pay her funeral expenses and to take her family on one last vacation together. Gail told her Prudential agent that the Living Needs Benefit helped her truly enjoy the last months of her life.

Lily's son was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Lily called her Prudential agent to take out loans against her own life insurance policies to help meet some of her son's expenses. Her son also had multiple Prudential policies and the agent said that one of them was eligible for the Living Needs Benefit rider. It was immediately added to the policy, and the agent soon afterwards handed Lily's son a check for more than $50,000, which paid for medical treatments the family otherwise would not have been able to afford.

These are just three of the more than 1,000 Prudential policyholders who have benefited from the $100 million in Living Needs Benefit claims Prudential has paid since the program began just eight years ago--each receiving an average of $78,000. Reaching the $100 million milestone is a strong reflection of the commitment Prudential has made to helping people at very difficult times in their lives.

In January 1990, Prudential became the first major U.S. life insurer to offer an accelerated death benefit option. Living Needs allows death benefits to be paid in advance if the insured becomes terminally ill with a life expectancy of six months or less; needs an organ transplant and would have six months or less to live without the transplant; or has been confined continuously in a nursing home for six months and is expected to remain there permanently. (The nursing home option is not available in New York or the District of Columbia. The Living Needs Benefit is not available in Minnesota to new purchasers older than 65.)

"Since Prudential pioneered the Living Needs Benefit in 1990, many other companies have followed our lead and introduced terminal illness accelerated death benefit riders," said Jim Avery, Prudential's chief actuary. "However, Prudential's nursing home option still differentiates its Living Needs Benefit rider from those of most other insurance companies--which either don't offer the option or offer more limited versions."

Avery added that the Living Needs Benefit tends to be particularly attractive to people who are more than 50 years old who have a life insurance need. "At this stage in life, individuals may begin to observe the fragility of their own health and mortality. They may also begin to experience the financial strains of parents who are in a nursing home or are terminally ill and, therefore, realize how beneficial the rider may be to them some day," said Avery.

The Living Needs rider can be added to most Prudential policies at no additional premium(a). Currently, more than 2 million Prudential inforce policyholders have a Living Needs rider on their policies. About 90 percent of new policyholders eligible for the rider do choose to add it.

Prudential Insurance Company of America is the largest life insurance company in the United States and one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the world. It has a major presence in the insurance, securities and money management, employee benefits and administration, consumer banking, and real estate brokerage and relocation industries. Visit the Prudential Web site at http://www.prudential.com

(a) When a claim is paid under the Living Needs Benefit, a discount for early payment is applied and a processing fee of $150 is deducted.

    CONTACT: The Prudential Insurance Company of America, New Jersey
              Karen Oliver Howell, 973/802-8533