Comprehensive United American Life Insurance Review [Pros and Cons]
Shopping and comparing from the hundreds of companies that offer life insurance can be overwhelming and frustrating.
But it doesn’t have to be.
You’ve taken the right first step to research on your own before being pestered by salespeople. As independent agents, we’ll give you our honest opinion on each company.
Let’s dive right in…
United American Life Insurance Pros and Cons
United American Pros:
- This is a relatively small insurance company, making them pretty easy to work with.
- The Company is highly regarded by the rating agencies, which is a strong indication of its financial integrity.
- The critical illness rider is an excellent choice for anyone who has major health conditions either in their past, or in their family history.
- United American can be a good choice for those who are either on Medicare, or just a few years away. Their Medicare supplements can be an excellent addition to your insurance coverage.
United American Cons:
- United American’s main line of business is health insurance, particularly Medicare supplements. Life insurance is only one of their businesses and not a primary one.
- The company doesn’t offer related financial services, typically offered by the larger insurance companies.
- The lack of ability to make application online results in a seriously delayed application process. It can take up to six weeks for an application to be approved. This is in sharp contrast to many companies that are no offering policies without the medical exam, and even some that have instant approval.
United American prefers customer contact through their online contact form, with follow-up primarily by email. The absence of live support, either by phone or live chat, slows the process.
Should You Get a Term Life Policy Through United American Life Insurance?
United American life insurance isn’t one of the larger, more diverse insurance providers.
The product line is extremely limited, which means it will appeal to a comparatively small market segment. It will not be suitable to the general insurance market, where other companies are stronger and more aggressively priced.
But the company could be a natural fit for anyone who is either on Medicare, or will be in a few years. United American is one of the pioneers in offering Medicare supplements, which means they’ve developed a strong product line in this area. They can provide the ability to combine life insurance and a health supplement through the same company.
They’re also very strong with the critical illness rider. If you have a previous history with heart disease, stroke, cancer or another major disease, or you have any in your family history, this rider can be an advantage over policies offered by other companies.
Give us a call, or complete the quote request to the left of this article, and we’ll see if United American – or another insurance company – is the right choice for you. As an insurance broker, we work with them all, and we’ll make sure to get you the best policy for the lowest premium.
About United American Life Insurance Company
United American Life Insurance was founded in 1947 by C.L. Dunlap, and is based in McKinney, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Torchmark Corporation (NYSE: TMK). It’s one of the first companies to begin selling Medicare supplement plans, beginning in 1966 when Medicare was launched. The company provides life, supplemental life, health and accident insurance coverage.
Today, the company operates in 49 states, plus the District of Columbia. More than 1,000 employees work at the home office in Texas. Policies are provided by independent agents, who deliver life and Medicare supplement policies to customers living in the individual states.
The company has more than $1.6 billion in assets, including nearly $800 million in insurance in force, to more than 500,000 policyholders.
United American Life Insurance Financial Ratings
United American is highly rated by the popular third-party business rating services. This includes both industry rating services and the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
Here are the most recent ratings on the company:
- Standard & Poor’s: “AA-, Very Strong” for financial strength (as of October, 2015).
- A.M. Best: “A+ Superior”, for more than 40 consecutive years (as of July, 2017).
- Moody’s: N/A.
- Better Business Bureau: “A+” (on a scale of A+ to F), BBB accredited since 1952. There are no complaints filed against the company.
Based on the ratings above, United American is judged to be financially one of the strongest companies in the insurance industry. That’s an indication that the company is very stable. That’s important, because life insurance is a multi-decade financial commitment. You’ll want to know that your company is strong enough to be around for the duration of the term of your policy.
Products Offered by United American Life Insurance
United American is primarily engaged in the business of health insurance, particularly Medicare supplements, and cancer and critical illness policies. They do have life insurance, though it isn’t their primary line of business.
Here are the basic product lines offered by United American:
Life insurance:
- Term life insurance
- Whole life insurance
Other insurance plans offered:
- Medicare supplements
- Supplemental health insurance
- Cancer/Critical Illness
One of the negatives of United American is that they don’t offer a broad range of financial services, as many of the larger insurance companies do. This can be significant because life insurance is a long-term contract, and you may want additional services through the same provider.
United American offers none of the financial products offered by other companies, such as financial planning, retirement and investments. Apart from life insurance, the only other financial product they’ll have available are there health supplements, which will primarily benefit Medicare recipients.
United American Customer Service
Customer service is available Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM through 5:30 PM, central time.
A negative about United American is the availability of live customer support. Representatives are pleasant and knowledgeable, when you can reach one. But the company encourages contact through their online contact form, available on the website.
This leads to delays in the customer service process, particularly when follow-up contact is primarily by email, rather than phone or live chat.
United American Term Life Insurance
United American term life insurance policies have the following features:
- Death benefits between $25,000 and $500,000
- Guaranteed renewable
- Portable – the policy stays in force, even if you move or change jobs
- Family and individual policies
- Policy can’t be canceled as long as premiums are paid on time
We recommend term life insurance as more cost-effective than whole life.
Whole life insurance, and other types of permanent life insurance, are much more expensive than term. In fact, they’re about 10 times more expensive on average. That means you can purchase a $1 million term life insurance policy for about the cost of a $100,000 whole life policy.
For this reason, term life insurance is a better choice early in life, when the need for life insurance is greatest. If you are recently married, or have young children, you likely have the highest need for life insurance at any time in your life. The cost of whole life will severely limit how much coverage you can have.
With term insurance, you can purchase the amount of life insurance you need, at affordable rates. You can take a term policy when your need for coverage is greatest, then either reduce the coverage or convert it to a smaller permanent life insurance policy in the future.
United American Application Process
This is a weak spot for the company.
There is no capacity to apply online. That means the application process is done the old-fashioned way – by paper application. This is a decided disadvantage in a world where people are routinely accustomed to completing applications and other documents online, and in real time.
Popular United American Life Insurance Policy Riders
United American life insurance policies are simple and straightforward, which is a definite benefit in a world of increasing complexity. However, they don’t offer the variety of policy riders typical for the industry. But one that they do offer can be a game changer:
Critical Illness rider: This rider helps to cover up to 50% of your out-of-pocket medical costs, including deductibles, copayments and coinsurance provisions. The rider can be added for up to $50,000. It can be used to cover qualifying events, including heart attack, stroke, end-stage renal failure, and cancer. It’s an excellent rider to add if any of these health-related conditions run in your family, or are already present.
There is one important limitation on the critical illness rider, however. You must be under the age of 63 in order to be eligible to add it to your policy.
Need More Help Finding the Best Life Insurance Company?
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