Christine Lacagnina has written thousands of insurance-based articles for TrustedChoice.com by authoring consumable, understandable content.
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Though shopping for life insurance for senior citizens can be a painful task, Trusted Choice researched for you and ranked the best senior life insurance companies of 2024. To choose our winners, we considered each senior life insurance company's pros and cons, including their official ratings and customer reviews, history and number of years in the insurance industry, customer service availability, coverage options, discounts, and more.
Check out our official rankings of the best life insurance companies for seniors, so you know where to start hunting for the coverage you need. Our top 7 choices in each specific category of senior life insurance can be found below.
The 7 Best Life Insurance Companies for Senior Citizens in 2024
Best Senior Life Insurance Company Overall: New York Life Insurance
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Cons:
Highest possible rating from AM Best of "A++."
Mobile app unavailable
High level of customer satisfaction
Can't get quotes for term life insurance online
Offers a chronic care rider for whole life insurance
Coverage details only offered through New York Life agents
Life insurance issued to seniors up to age 90
Our choice for the overall best life insurance for seniors over 60 goes to New York Life Insurance. For starters, New York Life Insurance dates back to 1845 and has been awarded AM Best's highest possible rating of an "A++" or "superior." Most customer reviews of New York Life Insurance are also glowing, making New York Life Insurance an easy choice for our best life insurance company for seniors.
What is the best life insurance for seniors? It depends on the individual's needs and desires. That said, it's easy to find the best senior life insurance policy at New York Life Insurance because the carrier offers it all: term, whole, universal, and variable life insurance policies.
Best Senior Life Insurance Company for Term Life Policies: John Hancock Life Insurance
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Cons:
Term coverage for seniors up to age 80 available
Can't get quotes online
Permanent or whole life coverage for seniors up to age 90 available
Can't apply for coverage online
All policies come with a wellness program
Doesn't offer guaranteed issue life insurance
Superior "A+" rating by AM Best
Our choice for the best senior term life insurance goes to John Hancock Life Insurance. The carrier was founded in 1862 and awarded a superior "A+" rating from AM Best. John Hancock offers term and whole life insurance, final expense life insurance policies, and its own "Aspire" coverage, or life insurance for people with preexisting diabetes.
Best Senior Life Insurance Company for Whole Life Policies: USAA Life Insurance
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Cons:
"A++" or "superior" rating by AM Best
Mixed customer feedback
Superb financial stability
Not BBB accredited
Offers simplified whole-life policies with no medical exam
Available to non-military members
Our choice for the best whole life insurance for seniors is USAA Life Insurance. USAA has exceptional financial strength and stability, with the highest possible rating of "A++" or "superior" from AM Best. USAA offers a simplified whole-life policy with no medical exam, so seniors with preexisting conditions have a better chance of getting the coverage they need.
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Best Senior Life Insurance Company for Financial Stability: Guardian Life Insurance
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Cons:
Highest-possible rating of "A++" or "superior" by AM Best
Can't file claims online
Superb financial strength
Must apply for coverage through an agent
High level of customer satisfaction
Offers dividend-eligible policies
New life insurance policies issued to seniors up to age 90
Our choice for the best senior life insurance company for financial stability and dividends goes to Guardian Life Insurance, which dates all the way back to 1860. The carrier's exceptional financial strength and stability ratings from AM Best ("A++" or "superior") are the highest possible. Guardian Life also offers dividend-eligible policies for seniors, making them an obvious choice for our top spot in this category.
Best Senior Life Insurance Company for Over 70: MassMutual Life Insurance
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Cons:
10-year term policies available for applicants up to age 75
Term life policies maximum issue age is lower than for whole life policies
Offers 25-year term policies for applicants up to age 60
Offers whole life insurance policies for applicants up to age 90
Our choice for the best life insurance for seniors over 70 goes to Massachusetts Mutual, or MassMutual Life Insurance. MassMutual Life Insurance dates back to 1851 and boasts the highest-possible financial strength rating of an "A++" or "superior" from AM Best. The carrier offers term life, whole life, universal life, and variable life insurance policies as well as annuities and retirement planning services. The maximum issue age for whole life insurance policies is 90, making them an obvious choice for our top recommendation for life insurance for seniors over 70.
Best Senior Life Insurance Company for Living Benefits: Nationwide Life Insurance
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Cons:
No-cost living benefits policy eligibility
Only existing Nationwide auto insurance and home insurance customers can apply for simplified issue whole life policies
High level of customer satisfaction
Some mixed customer feedback
Simplified issue whole life policies of up to $50,000 available
Excellent financial strength
Our choice for the best senior life insurance company for living benefits goes to Nationwide Life Insurance, which dates back to 1925. Nationwide has an excellent rating of "A+" by both AM Best and the BBB and great financial strength. The carrier offers term, universal, whole, and variable life insurance policies and offers a living benefits perk on top of most of its life insurance coverages. It also offers simplified issue whole life insurance policies of up to $50,000 to existing Nationwide home or auto insurance customers.
Best Senior Life Insurance Company for Customer Service: Pacific Life Insurance
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Cons:
High level of customer satisfaction
Can't apply for coverage online
Fewest customer complaints of all top-rated life insurance companies on our list in 2023
Can't get online quotes
Terminal illness riders issued with all life insurance policies
Not a BBB accredited business
"A+" or "excellent" rating by AM Best"
Strong financial stability
Our choice for the best senior life insurance company for customer service goes to Pacific Life Insurance. The carrier dates back to 1868 and has received excellent ratings for financial stability and customer service alike. Of all the life insurance companies for seniors we surveyed, Pacific Life came away with the fewest customer complaints within the past three years, relative to its size. Pacific Life Insurance offers several living benefit riders for its senior life insurance customers and also allows you to convert a term policy to a whole life policy, if needed, down the road.
How We Select the Best Life Insurance Companies for Seniors
Trusted Choice used the following criteria and methodology to select the best senior life insurance companies:
We researched what customers want: We found that customers look for senior life insurance companies with strong financial stability, low number of customer complaints relative to size, multiple coverage options, availability of riders and coverage with no medical exams, ease of filing claims, and high maximum issue age.
We reviewed official studies: We surveyed results from official studies such as those from J.D. Power and the 2021 Insurance Barometer Study.
We reviewed official ratings: We reviewed official ratings by organizations like AM Best and the BBB.
We considered customer reviews: We researched dozens of customer reviews across multiple platforms including Consumer Affairs and Clearsurance.
We compiled data points: We determined our analysis would be based on many data points including policy offerings, ease of claims filing, customer service availability, riders available, discounts available, customer reviews, maximum issue age, and more.
We researched dozens of carriers: We applied these criteria to dozens of carriers before selecting our top 7 senior life insurance companies for this list.
We chose our categories: When searching for senior life insurance, some of the top most searched questions included what's the best senior life insurance company for living benefits? and what's the best senior life insurance company for those over 70? We used this data to compile our final categories.
We chose our winners: Based on our final categories, we reviewed the attributes of each of our top carriers and determined which fit best into every individual category.
This methodology and criteria helped us deliver our finalized list of the best life insurance companies for seniors across several different highly sought-after categories.
Frequently Asked Life Insurance Questions about Senior Life Insurance
The best kind of life insurance for seniors depends on your unique needs and desires, as well as your financial situation. Term policies provide coverage for those with stricter budgets and who may not need coverage for a longer period of time. Term life insurance can allow seniors to pay off a final expense such as a mortgage or a funeral. However, seniors who want a policy in place no matter when they pass may choose whole or permanent life insurance instead.
Guaranteed issue life insurance, also called guaranteed acceptance life insurance, is life insurance that the customer can apply for without completing a medical exam or survey first. This type of life insurance is also sometimes called "no medical exam life insurance." These policies can be great for seniors who have preexisting conditions and don't want to have to undergo a medical exam only to likely be denied coverage. However, guaranteed issue life insurance often comes with a waiting period before it kicks in, often of two or three years.
It depends entirely on the 70-year-old's current situation. If they have current debt, such as a mortgage, or don't have adequate savings to cover other final life expenses such as their funeral, the 70-year-old may very well want to buy life insurance to help their family take care of these final costs. However, if they have no outstanding debts and have a generous amount of savings accrued already, a life insurance policy might not make sense.
There are some carriers that offer senior life insurance with no medical exam for those over age 75. Another choice for seniors is simplified issue life insurance, which doesn't require a medical exam but does require customers to complete a health survey first. However, guaranteed issue life insurance does not even require a health survey first, and is most likely the ideal option for seniors over 75 looking to get coverage with no medical exam required.
The average cost of life insurance for seniors depends on the specific age of the policyholder and other factors. But for $250,000 worth of coverage, we found that non-smokers in good health ages 60 to 65 pay an average of $64 to $109 monthly if they're male, and between $51 to $73 monthly if they're female. For those aged 65 to 70 and male, they pay an average of between $109 and $191 monthly, while females in this age range pay between $73 and $124 monthly.
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