do mutual life insurance companies issue participating policies 
yes mutual life insurers are limited to offering only participating policies by most u s states their dividends are paid to policyholders regularly as refunds 8the bottom linea participating policy is an insurance contract that pays dividends to the policyholder dividends come from the issuing insurance company s profits and are typically paid out on an annual basis over the life of the policy several factors should be considered to determine whether a participating life policy is right for you but in many cases they may be more expensive at first than non participating policies on the other hand receiving dividends helps many holders of participating policies pay their premiums or build savings in the policy for later use 