Life insurance is important at any age, but it can be of critical importance for senior citizens.
You may be aware that life insurance premiums can increase as you get older, and that your options for coverage may be fewer as you get older, and that’s true.
But you can find life insurance to meet your needs at any age, so that you and your family will have peace of mind, knowing you’ve planned for the future. And, they can rest assured not to be left with financial difficulties upon your passing.
There is no one perfect plan that works for everyone. Life insurance should be chosen to fit you and your family’s specific needs. Depending on your situation, there are different life insurance companies and policies from the dozens available that can give you the coverage you need at the best price.
When choosing the best senior life insurance, it’s important to consider your age, we consider much more than age, lifestyle, health and pre-existing conditions, and overall needs.
The insurers listed below offer some of the best plans and most competitive pricing for seniors, taking all of your risk factors into consideration.
Whether you need term life insurance, guaranteed acceptance life, no medical exam life insurance, or final expense and burial insurance, the top insurers listed below offer you some of the best deals and coverage available.
Top Ten Life Insurance Carriers for Seniors
Assurity
When you purchase whole life insurance coverage for seniors from Assurity, you get coverage starting from the first day you sign the application for coverage.
For people under 65, the amount of life insurance available can go up to $50,000 but once you cross 65, then the max amount of coverage is $25,000, which would be more appropriate for covering funeral costs and other end of life expenses.
You will have to answer a few questions about your health before the policy will get underwritten. If you are looking for coverage that will pay for your funeral and burial expenses, this may be a good option for you.
Banner Life Insurance
Banner is an excellent company for sub-standard risks (people with health issues), offering some of the most competitive life insurance rates and policies for seniors.
Banner Life offers both term and universal life insurance coverage for people over 55.
Fidelity Life Insurance
Fidelity Life Insurance is a popular insurer for senior, offering one of the best no medical exam life insurance plans.
Fidelity’s "hybrid" term life insurance policy allows clients to get life insurance coverage within 48 hours. This policy offers 1/3 of your coverage as term insurance and the remaining as accidental death insurance.
You also have the option of taking a medical exam up to six months after signing up. If you pass the medical exam you can convert your accidental death coverage into term life. Don’t worry; if you fail, you still get to keep your existing life insurance policy.
Foresters Life Insurance
Although Foresters Life Insurance is not as well-known as some of the other insurance companies, it provides one of the best life insurance policies for seniors.
Even if you have a really complicated health history, Foresters may accept you for life insurance. They also have competitive pricing – which is important to a lot of senior citizens, particularly after retirement for those on a fixed income.
Gerber Life Insurance
Well-known for their child life insurance plans, it may surprise you to find Gerber Life Insurance on our list of most top-rated insurance companies for senior citizens. However, they deserve it – offering competitive pricing and quality coverage.
Gerber Life offers guaranteed issue senior life insurance plans with no health questions asked and no exam required.
When a senior is uninsurable by most life insurers due to a pre-existing health condition, Gerber still offers a great policy with guaranteed approval.
North American Company
Another excellent option among the best insurance carriers for seniors is North American Company.
North American has an A+ rating from, A.M. Best. North American is great for life insurance for people over age 60 because it has a solid product offering and extremely competitive rates for older individuals. The cheap premiums alone are enough to make almost every senior happy.
Prudential
Pruco Life Insurance Company has great brand recognition and is a name you can trust. Prudential offers excellent senior life insurance plans especially for those with special situations.
They are a unique life insurance company because they have special underwriting guidelines that can work in your favor if you are:
Pruco’s guidelines help you get coverage no matter what – with the most affordable prices from a strong, reliable insurer.
Transamerica Life Insurance
Transamerica is the senior term life insurance company. The company consistently offers some of the best whole and term life insurance for seniors 70 and above.
Unlike some big-name competitors, Transamerica proves to work with seniors, not against them. The company also offers term life for seniors over 80 years old.
One example on where Transamerica excels at insuring seniors: If you are 71 or older and have a blood pressure reading of 145/85, then you can likely qualify for the best rate class available from Transamerica.
You will also be able to get the best rate and premium class if you have up to 5.5 cholesterol ratio. Other insurers may allow a cholesterol ratio only up to 4.5.
And Transamerica offers some of the lowest pricing on life insurance for seniors over 75 years old, making it a top choice among senior citizens.
Lincoln Financial
Lincoln Financial senior life coverage caters to clients 70 and older, including whole and term life insurance policy for seniors over 80. This is made clear with the company’s liberal body mass index chart for males and females age seventy and up. So, if you have issues with your weight, that’s okay.
Further, the company increases limits for diabetic life insurance for seniors seventy and over; as well as, blood pressure and cholesterol limits.
In addition, the Lincoln Financial offers competitive senior rates and policies, often ranking in the top 3 for price on insurance for people 70 and over.
However, Lincoln Financial will not consider a prospective insured if he or she has not seen their personal physician in the last twelve months.
Minnesota Life
Minnesota Life ranks #1 for senior term insurance rates in a lot of categories.
"To remain competitive, it’s crucial to understand how to submit business for older-age applicants. Minnesota Life and Securian Life, a New York admitted insurer, have expertise in mature underwriting, with cognitive and mobility screenings, allowing us to offer Preferred Select, Preferred and Non-Tobacco Plus underwriting classes to many applicants – up to age 85."
That pretty much sums it up. Minnesota Life is definitely one of the best term life companies for seniors in the marketplace. However, Minnesota Life, via Securian Life, also has whole life policies available for the elderly.
Life Insurance for Seniors: Insurance Terms
You Should Know
Life insurance can seem overwhelming at times.
And yes, there are a lot of terms you may not understand: death benefit, insured, final expense, guaranteed acceptance, premiums.
Don’t worry. We’ll help you get a better handle on those terms, to make it easier for you to find the life insurance policy need.
Important Life Insurance Terms
Death Benefit
The term "death benefit" simply refers to the amount of money that a beneficiary will receive from a life insurance policy at the time of the policyholder’s death.
Face Value
Face value is the amount of money the beneficiary would receive when the policyholder passes away.
This just means the face value is the death benefit of the insurance policy.
Term Life Insurance
A term life insurance policy means that beneficiaries receive a death benefit if the policyholder dies within a specific period of time, which is the term (duration) of the policy. If the insured outlives the duration of the term policy, there is no payout.
Guaranteed Acceptance Life Insurance
For many senior citizens, guaranteed acceptance life insurance is the way to go.
Guaranteed coverage is much easier to get than any other type of life insurance.
If you have medical concerns or any pre-existing health conditions, you can easily qualify for this type of policy.
In fact, you don’t have to answer any health-related questions at all, which isn’t the case with every life insurance policy.
Guaranteed acceptance insurance can help pay for outstanding medical expenses, funeral and burial costs, and unpaid bills, which will help your surviving family members avoid any undue financial stress upon your passing.
Final Expense Life Insurance
Final expense insurance, also known as a burial insurance policy, is meant to cover expenses after the policyholder’s death. Like guaranteed acceptance life insurance, the policy can help pay for outstanding bills and medical expenses and burial/funeral costs.
The main difference is that final expense life insurance may ask a few health questions in order for people to qualify for a policy. If you have pre-existing conditions or health issues, it may be easier to purchase a guaranteed policy, but it depends on your situation and needs.
Survivorship Life Insurance
Survivorship Life Insurance (also known as second-to-die insurance) is a joint life insurance policy between two people, and it’s especially beneficial if you pay large estate taxes.
Basically, it helps your family or heirs inherit your estate and avoid liquidating your assets, but it doesn’t pay out until the second person named on the insurance policy is dead.
What is No Medical Exam Life Insurance?
Like the name suggests, senior no medical examination life insurance means you can skip a visit to the physician’s office and still qualify for a life insurance plan without the hassles of a doctor's exam, or blood and urine testing.
For many seniors, no medical life insurance is a great option because it saves you time and effort. In many cases, obtaining a no medical exam life insurance policy from United of Omaha can go from application to approval in 24 hours.
Depending on your unique circumstances, you may still be asked medical-related questions during your application process, or if your best bet is guaranteed life insurance, you can skip the medical history related questions for a very easy life policy process.
Life Insurance Premiums for Seniors
It’s true that senior citizens tend to pay higher life insurance premiums if they’re purchasing life insurance for the first time when compared to younger people who purchase life insurance.
That’s due to the fact that younger people have a longer life expectancy, and would pay premiums to the insurer for a longer period of time. But seniors would have a shorter life expectancy, so rates are higher.
JRC Insurance Group helps people from all ages and health conditions find life insurance coverage that works for them. There are plenty of options available, and JRC works with many different life insurance companies so that they can offer the best life insurance policy at an affordable price.
Top Life Insurance for Seniors
The following life insurance for seniors list of insurers represents what we believe are the top companies offering life insurance coverage for seniors.
However, with dozens of insurance carriers and types of policies to choose from, the following may or may not be the right choice for you.
With JRC you can get a free consultation to make sure you are applying with the right insurance company, and to make sure your family receives the care and peace of mind that comes from the right plan, whatever your needs for coverage. Request your free life insurance quotes.
Finding the Best Life Insurance for Senior Citizens
Here are a few important considerations to help you get the best life insurance policy, premium and death benefit for seniors:
Risk Factors – No matter what your age, whether you smoke or engage in a risky lifestyle, then you will almost always pay a premium. This is also true as a senior citizen. One of the few exceptions is for seniors who developed diabetes at a late age. There are companies who will give a better rate class for someone who has diabetes at age 55 than someone who was diagnosed with diabetes at 40.
Purchase life insurance Now – The sooner you purchase your life insurance coverage, generally the cheaper it will be. If you wait until you are 65+, then you will likely pay a higher premium than if you buy your policy at a younger age.
Choose the Right Plan – Even if you choose the right insurance company, if you don’t choose the best type of life insurance policy and coverage, you’ll be in trouble later. For more on this, see our article that covers term versus permanent life insurance.
Term is Cheaper – A term policy for seniors can get pricey due to the cost of insurance increasing as you get closer to your life expectancy, so be sure to lock into the correct number of years you need.
How Do I Find The Best Senior Citizen Life Insurance Policy?
As we mentioned, there is no way to simply recommend a single best senior citizen life insurance company for all older clients.
Each person is unique and therefore a life insurance policy recommendation must be too, based on your specific needs and situation.
For some people who are battling serious illness or disease, choosing guaranteed issue coverage from among the top insurers may be the best option.
Ultimately, the right way to find the best senior life insurance policy is to compare life insurance rates and plans from among the leading insurance carriers.
When it comes to life insurance for the elderly, there are two categories to review.
First, we’ll cover options for healthy seniors, and then cover options for seniors who may have pre-existing health conditions, or just need a small amount of life insurance coverage for final expenses.
Best Life Insurance for Healthy Seniors
Here’s a review of 3 leading life insurance carrieries for healthy seniors:
American Continental
They are an Aetna company and what makes American Continental unique is they have a life insurance policy with no medical exam up to age 89.
This plan offers a death benefit that pays out 100% on from the first day you are insured, but the insured has to be really healthy to get approved. They don’t do a prescription check or MIB check, so it’s pretty easy to qualify. However, it’s not available in all states.
Royal Neighbors of America
Royal Neighbors definitely offers some of the very best rates on no exam life insurance for people ages 70 to 80.
Royal Neighbors has been in business since 1895 and are rated A- (Excellent) by A.M. Best for financial strength.
American Memorial Life Company
American Memorial offers excellent no exam plans for people age 81-85 and offer voice signature by phone.
For example, an 85-year-old female in good health could qualify for $10K of coverage for $111 per month.
American Memorial is rated A- (Excellent) by A.M. Best, and is a subsidiary of Assurant, a Fortune 500 company with over $25 Billion in assets, and has been in business since 1892.
Compare Best Life Insurance Quotes
Seniors with Health Problems or Those Turned Down for Life Insurance
If you're over 45 and have health problems, maybe you have been turned for life insurance and feeling like it's impossible to get insured, don't worry.
United of Omaha is one of the leading providers of guaranteed issue life insurance coverage for people over 45 years old.
Even if you have been denied coverage through other insurers, now you can get the protection you need.
Top Pick – Mutual of Omaha
Mutual of Omaha offers guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance for people age 45 to 85. Choose $2,000 up to $25,000 of coverage. Rates start as low as $8.84 per month. There’s no medical exam and no health questions. You cannot be turned down. You can get a quote and apply online now. START HERE to get a FREE Quote.
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