What is a policy rider in the context of life insurance?

In life insurance, a policy rider is an addition that modifies the original insurance policy. This addition can provide additional benefits or changes to the coverage, often tailored to the policyholder's specific needs. Riders can enhance a policy by adding features such as critical illness coverage, waiver of premium, or accelerated death benefits, among others.

This flexibility allows policyholders to customize their insurance to better fit their individual circumstances, making it a valuable component of life insurance offerings. For instance, if someone's financial situation changes or if they wish to ensure additional protections for their loved ones, they can opt to add a rider to their existing policy.

The other choices presented do not accurately represent the definition of a policy rider. A reduced premium option refers to a different aspect of policy structuring, a policy that covers only accidents specifically pertains to accidental death benefits and does not encapsulate the broader concept of riders, and a method of selecting beneficiaries is related to the designated recipients of the policy benefits rather than modifications to the policy itself.