Best Life Insurance for Seniors

*Quotes above are examples of what a 40-year-old in excellent health might pay for a 30-year $250,000 policy. Get life insurance quotes from multiple companies to find your best rate.

Final Verdict

The best life insurance company for you will be determined by what type of coverage you’re looking for and your personal preferences. If you want a rock-solid company with a long history of financial stability, look to New York Life and Guardian. They have the added benefit of being the only two companies on this list that pay dividends. 

And while both of those companies have a low incidence of customer complaints, the very best for seniors in that category is Pacific Life, which also offers coverage to 90-year-old applicants (as do Guardian and New York Life).

For term policies, consider John Hancock and Nationwide. With Nationwide you can get life insurance quotes online and can apply online without an agent’s assistance. You’ll need to talk to an agent at John Hancock, but can apply for a term policy if you’re north of 75 years old. Not so with Nationwide (or other carriers on this list).

For living benefits, consider Nationwide: most policies include three living benefit riders free of charge that allow you to access your death benefit early in the event of a chronic, critical, or terminal illness.

Final expense insurance may be most commonly considered senior life insurance because it frequently has a minimum age requirement of 45 or 50. Some final expense policies may qualify as guaranteed issue life insurance as well. The main differences between these types of policies and regular life insurance are the application process, the cost, and the death benefit. Most burial insurance policies have a death benefit of $50,000 or less, require no medical exam and few health questions (if any), and cost more per dollar of death benefit than coverage that requires a medical exam.

The good Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos & News Videos is that if you're willing to answer health questions on your application and undergo a medical exam, that cost could decrease substantially, especially if you're in good health. This is one reason why it's crucial to contact multiple insurance companies to compare life insurance quotes before buying.

But if you want a policy that's there for your loved ones whenever you pass, you'll want to look into a permanent whole life insurance policy. If budget is a concern, apply for a fully-underwritten policy that requires a health exam to get the best possible rate. Also, consider reducing the death benefit amount so you can afford it. For example, you can get a burial insurance policy with a death benefit as low as $2,000.

A graded death benefit is a feature of certain types of no-medical-exam life insurance, such as guaranteed issue, simplified issue whole life, final expense, and funeral or burial insurance policies. 

The reason insurance companies have graded death benefits is so they can afford to offer coverage to high-risk applicants at affordable premiums. Otherwise, insurers would need to charge much larger premiums to cover their costs or they’d simply deny coverage. This is because life insurance premiums are based on when the insured person is most likely to die—and the highest risk applicants (the type that guaranteed issue policies are designed for) are most likely to die sooner rather than later.  A graded death benefit helps the company soften this risk so that it can offer affordable coverage.

1. An A or above rating from AM Best: AM Best gives A ratings and above to companies it considers to have an “excellent” (A-, A) or “superior” (A+, A++) ability to meet their ongoing insurance obligations. All companies in our best life insurance for seniors list have at least an A+ rating.
2. Few customer complaints: You can see how many complaints a life insurance company has received using the NAIC’s Consumer Insurance Search tool. Look at the insurance company’s “complaint index” for life insurance. An index greater than 1.0 means the company received more complaints than expected for its size, an index less than 1.0 means it received fewer. Avoid companies with indexes much higher than 1.0. All companies in our best seniors life insurance list have NAIC complaint indexes better than 0.50.
3. The policy features you want: Some companies automatically include value-added benefits or riders in their coverage, while other companies charge extra for you to add them. This is particularly the case with accelerated death benefit riders like chronic, critical, and terminal illness riders. Make a note of which companies and policies offer the best living benefits.
4. A manageable application process: Once you’ve determined which companies you like, it’s time to get life insurance quotes and apply for coverage. It’s likely you’ll talk to an agent, which can give insight into how transparent or accessible service may be in the future, so pay attention to the agent’s behavior in your communications with them.

Our review process gave preference to companies with superior financial stability, few customer complaints, and a high maximum issue age for policies. In particular, we valued the availability of accelerated death benefit riders and whether they’re included in policies free of charge. Companies received ratings boosts if they provide educational materials, accept credit cards, and make large coverage amounts available. We ranked each company according to the following categories and weights.

• 30%: Maximum issue age
• 24.5%: Financial stability 
• 24.5%: Consumer complaints and customer service features
• 16%: Policy features and riders
• 5%: Maximum coverage amount

To finalize our list, we considered third-party customer satisfaction ratings, and compared individual offerings between top companies by delving deeper into product specifics and the application process. We used this research to determine the best life insurance for seniors.