Which life insurance company is the best for you? Do you want the fastest, lowest price, the best financial rating, the best company for health issues, etc?
At RiskQuoter, we developed this article to answer those questions for you.
Best Life Insurance Companies Overview
The following links take you directly to the sections that interest you.
Companies We Reviewed
How do you choose the best life insurance company and what criteria should you consider when shopping for life insurance?
We listened to the questions our clients asked again and again, and then used that insight to address your most important questions here.
Companies we reviewed include:
AIG – American General Life Insurance
AIG-American General offers term life insurance, universal and whole life, as well as great underwriting for many medical conditions.
AIG – American General Life Insurance Review
Banner Life Insurance
Banner Life is part of Legal and General America and offers term and universal life insurance, e-applications, e-policies, and e-delivery.
Equitable Life Insurance Company
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company offers term life insurance, universal life insurance, whole life insurance and more.
AXA is very competitive with coverage amounts of $500,000 or greater and is one of only a handful of companies that consider people with HIV.
Equitable Life Insurance Review
John Hancock Life Insurance Company
John Hancock offers term life insurance, universal life insurance, the Aspire program and Vitality to reward healthy lifestyles.
John Hancock is one of the few companies available that specialize in HIV life insurance underwriting.
John Hancock Life Insurance Review
Lincoln Financial Group
Part of the Lincoln Financial Group, Lincoln is very competitive with term life insurance, guaranteed universal life, index universal life, and their MoneyGuard products.
Lincoln is hard to beat for a number of high-risk health conditions.
Lincoln National Life Insurance Company Review
Mutual of Omaha
Mutual of Omaha offers term life, universal life, whole life, and accidental death insurance.
Omaha is competitive in many categories, including its underwriting “Fit” program.
Mutual of Omaha Company Review
Principal Life Insurance Company
Principal Life, also operating as Principal National Life in some states, offers term life insurance, universal life insurance, and disability insurance.
Principal offers a number of underwriting niches and is priced competitively in many categories.
Principal Life Insurance Company Review
Protective Life Insurance Company
Protective Life has an easy to use tele-application process and has one of the best-priced term life insurance products in the market.
Protective Life Insurance Company Review
Prudential Life Insurance Company
There is no other company like Prudential when it comes to being competitive for most high-risk medical conditions.
Pru offers term life insurance, universal life and index universal life insurance.
Prudential Life Insurance Company Review
West Coast Life Insurance Company
West Coast Life Insurance Company is no longer active and is now part of Protective Life. If you need to convert your existing term life insurance policy, we’re able to help you with that.
West Coast Life Insurance Company Review
Western Reserve Life Insurance Company
Western Reserve has been merged into Transamerica Premier Life Insurance Company, and no longer offers new life insurance policies.
Western Reserve Life Insurance Company Review
Financial Strength Ratings
These rating agencies issue life insurer financial strength (IFS) ratings.
- A.M. Best
- Moody’s
- S&P
- Fitch
| Company | AM Best | Moody’s | S&P |
|---|---|---|---|
| American General | A | A2 | A+ |
| Banner Life | A+ | – | AA- |
| John Hancock | A+ | A1 | AA- |
| Lincoln National | A+ | A1 | AA- |
| Mutual of Omaha | A+ | A1 | A+ |
| Principal | A+ | A1 | A+ |
| Protective Life | A+ | A1 | AA- |
| Prudential | A+ | A1 | AA- |
A.M. Best
A.M. Best analyzes companies to determine the company’s claims-paying ability. A.M. Best is the only agency that focuses exclusively on the insurance industry and seems to be the easiest for most consumers to understand.
AM Best Ratings
- A++ and A+ = Superior
- A and A- = Excellent
- B++ and B+ = Good
- B and B- = Fair
- C++ and C+ = Marginal
- C and C- = Weak
- D = Poor
- E = Under Regulatory Supervision
- F = In Liquidation
Moody’s Ratings
Provides forward-looking opinions of the relative credit risks of financial obligations issued by the life insurer
Moody’s Ratings include:
- Aaa = Judged to be the highest quality
- Aa = Judged to be high quality
- A = Judged to be upper-medium grade
- Baa = Judged to be medium-grade and subject to moderate credit risk
- Ba = Judged to speculative
- Caa = Judged to be speculative of poor standing
- Ca = Judged to be highly speculative
- C = Lowest rated and typically in default
S&P Ratings
The focus is to provide a forward-looking opinion about the life insurance company’s ability to pay its insurance policies under the terms of those contracts.
S&P Ratings include:
- AAA = Extremely strong financial characteristics
- AA = Very strong financial characteristics
- A = Strong financial characteristics
- BBB = Good financial characteristics
- BB, B, CCC, and CC = Vulnerable financial characteristics, with each of these broken down further.
You can find more information here about S&P life insurance ratings.
Fitch Ratings
The main driver of Fitch’s Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating is the evaluation of the life insurance company’s performance under the Key Credit Factors defined by Fitch.
Fitch Ratings Include:
- AAA = Exceptionally Strong
- AA = Very Strong
- A = Strong
- BBB = Good
- B = Weak
- CCC = Very Weak
- CC = Extremely Weak
- C = Distressed
Comdex
Comdex is a composite score developed by a software company that sells life insurance quoting software to life insurance companies.
It’s hard to use this score as a means to evaluate a company, so we don’t promote this score.
Best Term Life Insurance Company
Legal & General America
Known as Banner Life in the industry, Legal & General offers term life insurance using an e-application and e-policy.
You may complete your application online or during a phone interview and receive your policy electronically with Banner.
Other companies worth mentioning:
- AIG-American General
- Protective Life
Companies that Specialize in Health Issues
When it comes to high-risk health issues, the best life insurance company depends on the type of health issue you have.
Best Overall Company for Health Issues
If there’s a company that competes in every health issue, Prudential is it. No other company is willing to underwrite as many health conditions as Prudential.
After Pru, other companies to consider include:
- Lincoln National
- AIG-American General
- John Hancock
For any health history, we’ll shop at all of the companies that specialize in high-risk conditions to ensure you get the best rate possible.
Best Company for Ulcerative Colitis
Hands down, AIG-American General Life Insurance Company is the best for people with ulcerative colitis. AIG routinely offers “standard plus” rates or better.
Other companies to consider include:
- Banner Life
- Principal
- Prudential
When we shop for your medical history, we’re going to reach out to all companies for offers, not just the ones on the above list.
Best Company for Prostate Cancer
Our choice for the best prostate cancer company is Lincoln National due to how aggressive Lincoln is when your Gleason Score is 7.
Other companies that are competitive for prostate cancer are Prudential when the Gleason is 6, and Protective Life for older insureds.
Best Final Expense Life Insurance
AIG-American General Guaranteed Issue Whole Life Insurance
When you need a small life insurance policy without the hassle of medical underwriting, AIG’s Guaranteed Issue Whole Life Insurance (GIWL) is a great choice.
With a quick online application, guaranteed rates, living benefits in many states, AIG is hard to beat.
Other companies worth mentioning:
- Kemper Life & Health Company
The first step is always for us to review your medical history to see which companies will do the finest job in life insurance underwriting for your needs.
We’ll then work through how much life insurance you need to work on quotes for you.
We’ll put it all together for you, and then we can review the ratings of life insurance companies that interest you.
Please take a few minutes to submit your quote request today. Thank you.