What is final expense life insurance plan? Like all whole life insurance, it features policies that you pay into as long as you live. When you die, a death benefit, which you determined when you signed up for the policy, goes to your beneficiaries. That death benefit will not change during the life of the policy, and you are locked into the premium rates that you start with — they won’t go up as the years pass. Unlike most whole life policies, however, a final expenses policy does not require a medical exam. At most, you’ll fill out an application form that asks some questions about your health. But the underwriting process is short, and in some cases, you can have a policy in hand almost immediately.