(MONEY Magazine) – The one rub of life insurance, at least from a selfish point of view, is that by the time the policy pays off, the policyholder is no longer around to enjoy it. Sure, you can borrow against its cash value, but the real jackpot still goes to your ne'er-do-well nephew or other survivors. Now, a major U.S. underwriter, Jackson National Life in Lansing, Mich., is changing all that with a policy that could let you collect 25% of your death benefit while you are still among the quick. The price of this ''accelerated benefit'' is steep: you must have a heart attack (or bypass surgery), cancer, a stroke or kidney failure. But you can claim the early windfall just by presenting a note from your doctor. And the only penalty is that your heirs' eventual proceeds are thereby reduced by 25%. There has been a lot of ballyhoo over Lifeline Ultimate, as the policy is being marketed. ''It meets a social need by furnishing you with money when you most need it, with no delay,'' says Bill Gray, a spokesman for Jackson ; National. The covered diseases account for more than 60% of all deaths, adds Robert Waldron of the American Council on Life Insurance, an industry trade group, and ''getting one of them changes your whole life -- and your finances. With the accelerated benefit, you could pay debts, meet health expenses, take that dream trip or whatever.'' But does an early-payment plan really make sense? Not at its price -- about 10% more than for Jackson National's conventional whole life coverage. Consider the case of a healthy 45-year-old nonsmoking man who can buy a $100,000 Lifeline Ultimate policy for $2,040 a year. For that amount, says James Hunt of the National Insurance Consumer Organization, he could get a $125,000 policy from a no-commission company such as USAA of San Antonio, maintain it for 10 years, take out $25,000 in after-tax cash (whether he is sick or not) and still have $100,000 coverage. Or suppose this man chooses Jackson National's conventional policy for $202 a year less. That savings, applied to a disability policy from UNUM Life in Portland, Maine, would provide $500 a month (after a 60-day waiting period) for up to five years in the event of any disability that kept him from working, not just the critical, covered ones. Such counterexamples, though not exactly comparable, point up Lifeline Ultimate's high cost. Finally, while the appeal of collecting your own death benefit is undeniable, it actually subverts the real aim of life insurance: providing for your heirs. ''It's a cute gimmick and it will market well, but it's speculation, not insurance,'' says Ben Baldwin, certified financial planner and author of The Life Insurance Investment Adviser. ''You're betting a couple of hundred dollars a year that you will get one of these conditions. Better to play the lottery.''

CHART: TEXT NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: Compiled by the actuarial department of Jackson National Life CAPTION: Will you be eligible? The odds Under Jackson National's new ''accelerated benefit'' policy, you can collect 25% of your death benefit in advance if you are afflicted with heart disease, cancer, a stroke or kidney failure. The bars chart the odds of suffering one of these ailments during each of six decades of life (that is, a 45-year-old man has a 7% chance of contracting one of the illnesses before age 55). The company calculates that more than two-thirds of those stricken will survive past the year of diagnosis -- giving them time to take advantage of being their own beneficiary. DESCRIPTION: The odds of contracting heart disease, cancer, kidney failure or a stroke at 6 age levels for men and women.