Pros Explained

• Convertible term life policies: Aflac’s term life insurance policies are convertible. Before the term ends, you’re allowed to roll your coverage over into a permanent life insurance policy without taking a medical exam.
• Some policies do not require a medical exam: If you prefer to skip a medical exam, you can get up to $50,000 in coverage from Aflac without taking a medical exam or answering health questions. 
• Juvenile life insurance available: You can insure your children with Aflac’s child life insurance policy. A child's whole life policy provides coverage until age 25.

Cons Explained

• Coverage only available until age 70: Aflac only sells life insurance to people who are 70 years old or younger. Most of the 91 life insurance providers we reviewed sell new policies to 80-year-olds. 
• No online quotes: Comparing quotes can help you find the most competitive rate for your situation, but Aflac doesn’t offer instant quotes. You need to submit a quote request form and wait for an agent to contact you. 
• Low coverage limits: The maximum amount of life insurance coverage you can get from Aflac is $500,000, whereas many of the best life insurance companies offer coverage limits of $5 million or higher.
  

Policies Available 

Aflac sells a few different kinds of life insurance. The company’s term and whole life insurance policies are both available without a medical exam, but the coverage limits are significantly lower than its medically underwritten policies. Here are the various types of life insurance available from Aflac.

Term life insurance

Term life insurance offers temporary coverage, usually over a period of 10 to 30 years. It has level premiums that stay consistent over the entire term. If you pass away while the policy is active, your beneficiary receives a death benefit equal to the face value of your policy. Term life insurance usually costs less than permanent life insurance, unless you renew the policy past the level-term period. Unlike permanent life insurance, most term life policies do not accumulate cash value. 

Whole life insurance

Whole life insurance offers permanent coverage for your entire lifetime. In addition to level premiums and a guaranteed death benefit, whole life insurance policies also have a cash value that you may be able to access. Although whole life policies tend to be more expensive than term life, they provide lifelong coverage.

Final expense insurance

Guaranteed issue life insurance, which is also known as final expense insurance, is a type of whole life coverage that does not require a medical exam. Everyone who applies gets approved as long as they meet the age requirements. This policy provides a small death benefit that is typically used to pay for things like funeral services, legal fees, and unpaid debt. Guaranteed-issue life insurance policies almost always have limited benefits during the first two years of the policy. If you pass away during that time, your beneficiary may not receive the full death benefit. 

Available Riders

Life insurance riders are endorsements that can be added to your life insurance policy for increased protection. Aflac offers a handful of optional riders and includes a few free riders. 

Child term rider

A child term rider provides a small death benefit for each of your eligible children. The rider can be added to a term life or whole life insurance policy for a fee. It provides 25% of the policy’s face value, up to $15,000, for each child between the ages of 14 days and 18 years old (20 years old if you add the rider to a whole life policy). Coverage lasts until the child is 25.

Waiver of premium 

If you become completely disabled based on the terms of your policy, a waiver of premium rider will pause your life insurance premiums, without impacting your coverage. This rider can only be issued to customers between the ages of 18 and 59 years old. You can add a waiver of premium rider to a term life insurance policy, for an added fee. 

Accidental death benefit 

If you pass away and your death is caused by a covered accident, an accidental death benefit rider will provide an additional death benefit. If your death is caused by a car accident, where you were not at fault and were wearing a seatbelt, Aflac will pay an additional death benefit, up to 25% of the face value of your policy. This rider is only available for term life insurance policies, and it costs extra.

Terminal illness rider

Aflac’s term and whole life insurance policies have a built-in terminal illness rider, which is a type of accelerated benefit rider. If you get diagnosed with a terminal condition, you can withdraw up to 50% of the face value of your policy to use however you want or need. 

Spouse rider

Aflac offers an optional spouse rider on its term and whole life insurance policies. If you have term life insurance, you can add this rider and get coverage for 50% of the policy’s face value, up to $50,000, for your spouse, over 10, 20, or 30 years. If you have whole life insurance, this rider will provide the same amount of coverage for your spouse, but only up to 10 years.  

Advanced claim payment rider

The advanced claim payment rider is included with Aflac’s whole life insurance policies. When you pass away and your beneficiary notifies the company, Aflac will immediately provide a $5,000 payment to help with immediate costs, like funeral arrangements. However, the final death benefit payout will be reduced by this amount.

Complaint Index

Aflac Life Insurance has more complaints than expected for a company of its size, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Complaint Index.

The Complaint Index indicates the number of complaints an insurance company gets, relative to its size. When a company has a number of complaints expected for its size, its index is 1.00. Companies with more complaints have an index above 1.00, and companies with fewer complaints have an index below 1.00. The higher the index, the more complaints a company receives, in relation to its size.

We averaged Aflac’s annual complaints indexes over three years, which resulted in an index of 1.3. That means Aflac had somewhat more complaints than expected for its size. Most of the top life insurance companies we reviewed have a complaint index below 1.00.

Third Party Ratings

The credit ratings agency AM Best gives Aflac an A+ (Superior) rating, which indicates the company has the financial means to meet policyholder obligations.

AM Best ratings are calculated on an annual basis using factors such as balance sheet strength, operating performance, and total debt. The highest AM Best score possible is A++, and most of the life insurance companies we reviewed have a minimum letter grade of A. 

Customer Service

There are several ways that you can get customer service from Aflac. You can call the company through the main toll-free number: (800) 992-3522. If you prefer to send an email, you can contact the company by filling out the . Aflac also offers live chat for current and prospective customers. The online chat is monitored by live agents Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST.

Methodology

We designed a comprehensive ranking methodology based on consumer priorities and life insurance company fundamentals to rank more than 90 insurers across five general categories: financial stability, customer satisfaction, product, and feature variety, the overall buying experience, and cost. In order to do this, we collected over 5,000 data points and scored each company based on 55 metrics. We grouped metrics by category to see how insurers performed in each; we then weighted category scores to determine how companies performed overall.