What Is Senior Life Insurance?

Senior life insurance is life insurance that seniors are eligible for. Senior life insurance usually refers to final expense insurance , which is also called burial insurance or funeral insurance. These policies often limit the death benefit to $25,000 and require few or no health questions and no medical exam, making them easy to qualify for.

Do Seniors Need Life Insurance?

While the answer to this question depends on your financial circumstances, generally speaking, yes, seniors need life insurance . At the very least, a final expense policy can help loved ones cover the cost of a funeral and burial. Term and permanent life policies offer significantly higher death benefits, which can be a financial lifeline if your spouse or partner would be in financial distress if you were to pass.

What Is the Average Cost of Life Insurance for Seniors?

Senior life insurance is more expensive than life insurance for younger individuals. A 60-year-old might pay between $100 and $200 per month for $25,000 worth of guaranteed issue whole life insurance coverage, while a 70-year-old might pay $160 to over $300 per month for the same coverage. Life insurance gets progressively more expensive as you get older.

Which Type of Life Insurance Is Best for Seniors?

Whether you purchase term or whole life insurance as a senior depends on how much coverage you need, for how long, and what you can afford. A term policy may be a good idea if you only need coverage for a limited amount of time, such as the last few years of making your mortgage payments. But if you want to provide for loved ones whenever you pass, get permanent whole life insurance or a burial insurance policy.

How Does a Graded Death Benefit Work?

A policy with a graded death benefit has a waiting period, usually two or three years. If the policyholder dies from natural causes within the waiting period, the beneficiaries don’t get the full death benefit. Instead, the insurance company provides a return of premium plus a small percent. A graded death benefit is a feature of some burial insurance and final expense insurance policies. For example, if the insured person dies during the first two years of coverage, the policy might pay a return of premiums plus 10%. After the graded death benefit period, or for accidental death at any time, the policy would pay the full death benefit. 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.

4 Best Life Insurance Companies for Seniors

Meredith Mangan

Updated May 03, 2023

Reviewed by

Samantha Silberstein

Fact checked by

Matthew M Klammer

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more.

Shopping for senior life insurance may seem daunting. Premiums can be high, plan details confusing, and the ramifications of your decision can be wide-ranging. You'll generally get the best rates and options if you contact companies directly. If you're in good health, consider applying for a policy that requires a medical exam—since rates increase with age and poor health, it may be to your advantage to show the company you're healthy.

To choose the best life insurance companies for seniors, we evaluated companies based on their highest maximum issue ages for term and cash-value life insurance (30%), financial stability based on AM Best financial strength ratings (24.5%), incidence of consumer complaints filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and customer service features (24.5%), policy features and available riders (16%), and maximum coverage amounts (5%).

Best Life Insurance for Seniors in 2023

Best Traditional Insurer: New York Life
Very Few Complaints : Guardian
Best for a Positive Customer Experience: Pacific Life Insurance
Best If You Want a Term Policy: John Hancock Life Insurance

Why Trust Us

Companies reviewed

Features considered

5,005

Data points analyzed

We collected over 5,000 data points from 91 life insurance companies to measure financial stability, customer satisfaction, product and feature variety, and the overall buying experience. We then evaluated each company based on 55 metrics to develop unbiased, comprehensive reviews.

Read our Full Methodology

Compare life insurance quotes with our partner Covr Financial from multiple providers before buying.

Best Traditional Insurer : New York Life

Investopedia's Rating

4.8

AM Best Rating: AM Best is a credit rating agency that assigns insurance companies a letter grade from “A++” to “D.” A company’s grade indicates its ability to pay its claims and honor its financial obligations. A++
Accepts Credit Cards: No

Get A Quote

Why We Chose It

New York Life has been in business since 1854, has an A++ (Superior) AM Best rating, and has paid dividends for the past 169 years.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Policies available to 90-year-old applicants
A++ AM Best rating
Long history of dividend payments
Few customer complaints
Broad selection of riders

Cons

Must talk to an agent to get a quote and apply
Limited policy information online

Overview

New York Life ranks as having the overall best senior life insurance for a number of reasons. It’s one of very few companies we reviewed that issues policies to applicants up to age 90 (most companies cap applicant age at 85). And considering that it’s more than 170 years old itself, the company has weathered many financial storms, including multiple recessions and the Great Depression. Its strong financial position has earned it an A++ rating (the highest available) from AM Best. An A++ (Superior) rating means AM Best believes the company has a superior ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations.

The company receives few complaints, according to the NAIC. Plus, whole life policyholders are eligible for life insurance dividend payments, and have been receiving them every year since 1854, the longest record for consistent dividend payments of all companies we reviewed.

New York Life also offers an array of riders with which to customize your policy, including a disability income rider, which only one of our other top senior companies offer. The downside is that you’ll need to provide your phone number and other personal information to get detailed policy information and a quote. Not surprisingly, there’s no online application option either.

Read the Full New York Life Insurance Review

Very Few Complaints : Guardian

Investopedia's Rating

4.7

AM Best Rating: AM Best is a credit rating agency that assigns insurance companies a letter grade from “A++” to “D.” A company’s grade indicates its ability to pay its claims and honor its financial obligations. A++
Accepts Credit Cards: No

Get A Quote

Why We Chose It

Guardian Life has an A++ (Superior) financial stability rating from AM Best and a record of very few complaints with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

Pros & Cons

Pros

A++ AM Best rating
Very few customer complaints
Policies available to 90-year-old applicants
Pays dividends on whole life policies

Cons

Can’t apply without an agent
Hard to find policy-specific information online

Overview

In business since 1860, Guardian Life received an A++ rating from AM Best for financial stability. Fewer than 10% of the companies we reviewed received this rating; New York Life is the only other one on this list. Also like New York Life, 90-year-old applicants to Guardian are eligible to apply for coverage, and whole life insurance policyholders are eligible for dividends.

Guardian also has a very low incidence of customer complaints, according to the NAIC. Based on three years of complaints, Guardian received an exceptionally low number for a company of its size. In fact, it had the 6th-lowest complaint index (based on its size) out of the 91 companies we reviewed.

And while you can find copious educational material on the company’s website, finding policy-specific information is difficult to impossible. You’ll need to reach out to an agent for that. You’ll also need to contact an agent to apply.

Read the Full Guardian Life Insurance Review

Best for a Positive Customer Experience : Pacific Life Insurance

Investopedia's Rating

4.6

AM Best Rating: AM Best is a credit rating agency that assigns insurance companies a letter grade from “A++” to “D.” A company’s grade indicates its ability to pay its claims and honor its financial obligations. A+
Accepts Credit Cards: No

Get A Quote

Why We Chose It

Pacific Life has an excellent track record with the NAIC, as well as at top-five rating from J.D. Power.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Very few customer complaints
Policies available to 90-year-old applicants
Term coverage available to 70-year-old applicants
Many accelerated death benefits and riders available

Cons

No online quote or application on the website

Overview

Pacific Life had the second-fewest complaint rate relative to its size of all 91 insurance companies we reviewed. The company is especially good for seniors because it offers senior life insurance in the form of term coverage for applicants up to 70 years of age and permanent coverage for those up to 90 years old. Only six other companies of the 91 we considered offer coverage to 90-year-old applicants.

Additionally, Pacific Life offers a whole suite of accelerated death benefits, many at no additional cost, including riders for chronic and terminal illnesses and long-term care. (Many insurance companies charge extra for some or all of these riders.) Like some other insurance companies on this list, the online offerings at Pacific Life are limited. You can’t get a quote or apply without calling the company or applying through a third-party agent or broker.

Read the Full Pacific Life Insurance Review

Best If You Want a Term Policy : John Hancock Life Insurance

Investopedia's Rating

4.4

AM Best Rating: AM Best is a credit rating agency that assigns insurance companies a letter grade from “A++” to “D.” A company’s grade indicates its ability to pay its claims and honor its financial obligations. A+
Accepts Credit Cards: No

Get A Quote

Why We Chose it

John Hancock offers the most compelling term life insurance offerings of our top-ranked companies for seniors.

Pros & Cons

Pros

High maximum age for term insurance applicants
Offers insurance for diabetics
Optional critical illness rider doesn’t reduce the policy’s death benefit
Wellness program

Cons

Most accelerated benefit riders cost extra
No online quote, application, or live chat for applicants

Overview

John Hancock issues term policies to applicants up to age 80, while many competitors have cutoffs at age 75 or younger. Its maximum issue age for other types of insurance is also high, at 90.

In addition, we like that John Hancock offers a critical illness rider that isn’t an accelerated benefit, so the death benefit doesn’t get reduced if the rider is used. That’s uncommon. The company also caught our eye for its insurance for diabetics as well as its Vitality rewards. Vitality provides incentives for policyholders to live a healthy lifestyle, including potential discounts on senior life insurance premiums.

John Hancock’s main weaknesses are that accelerated death benefit riders cost extra, and, like others on this list, it doesn’t allow you to get a quote or apply online without an agent.

Read the Full John Hancock Life Insurance Review

	Best For	AM Best Rating AM Best is a credit rating agency that assigns insurance companies a letter grade from “A++” to “D.” A company’s grade indicates its ability to pay its claims and honor its financial obligations.	Term Life Sample Cost	Policy Types	Accepts Credit Cards		Reset All
New York Life	Best Traditional Insurer	A++	N/A	Term, Universal (UL), Variable Universal (VUL), Whole	No	Get A Quote	Hide, not for me
Guardian	Very Few Complaints	A++	$27.47/month	Term, Universal (UL), Whole	No	Get A Quote	Hide, not for me
Pacific Life Insurance	Best for a Positive Customer Experience	A+	$23.64/month	Indexed Universal (IUL), Term, Universal (UL), Variable Universal (VUL), Whole	No	Get A Quote	Hide, not for me
John Hancock Life Insurance	Best If You Want a Term Policy	A+	N/A	Indexed Universal (IUL), Term, Variable Universal (VUL)	No	Get A Quote	Hide, not for me

*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 senior 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 company with the fewest complaints 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, especially if you're an older applicant. You’ll need to talk to an agent, but can apply for a 10-year term policy if you’re 80 years old. This is not the case with any other carriers on this list.

More About Our Top Insurance Companies

Here is an overview of some of the key features of the life insurance policies our top companies provide.

Companies	Age Limit	Policy Types	J.D. Power ranking (out of 22 companies)	AM Best Financial Stability Rating
New York Life	Up to 90 for permanent	Term, whole, variable, universal	#10	A++ (Superior)
Guardian	Up to 90 for permanent/75 for term	Term, whole, variable, universal	#7	A++ (Superior)
Pacific Life	Up to 90 for permanent/70 for term	Term, whole, index, variable, universal	#5	A+ (Superior)
John Hancock	Up to 90 for permanent/80 for term	Term, index, variable, universal	#18	A+ (Superior)
Nationwide	Up to 85 for permanent/up to 70 for term	Term, whole, index, variable, universal, final expense	#6	A+ (Superior)

How to Choose the Right Life Insurance

The best life insurance companies offer the type of policy you need at a price you can afford and meet the following criteria:

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.
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.
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.
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.

More Ratings of Top Life Insurance Companies

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Senior Life Insurance?

Senior life insurance is life insurance that seniors are eligible for. Senior life insurance usually refers to final expense insurance, which is also called burial insurance or funeral insurance. These policies often limit the death benefit to $25,000 and require few or no health questions and no medical exam, making them easy to qualify for.
Do Seniors Need Life Insurance?

While the answer to this question depends on your financial circumstances, generally speaking, yes, seniors need life insurance. At the very least, a final expense policy can help loved ones cover the cost of a funeral and burial. Term and permanent life policies offer significantly higher death benefits, which can be a financial lifeline if your spouse or partner would be in financial distress if you were to pass.
What Is the Average Cost of Life Insurance for Seniors?

Senior life insurance is more expensive than life insurance for younger individuals. A 60-year-old might pay between $100 and $200 per month for $25,000 worth of guaranteed issue whole life insurance coverage, while a 70-year-old might pay $160 to over $300 per month for the same coverage. Life insurance gets progressively more expensive as you get older.
Which Type of Life Insurance Is Best for Seniors?

Whether you purchase term or whole life insurance as a senior depends on how much coverage you need, for how long, and what you can afford. A term policy may be a good idea if you only need coverage for a limited amount of time, such as the last few years of making your mortgage payments. But if you want to provide for loved ones whenever you pass, get permanent whole life insurance or a burial insurance policy.
How Does a Graded Death Benefit Work?

A policy with a graded death benefit has a waiting period, usually two or three years. If the policyholder dies from natural causes within the waiting period, the beneficiaries don’t get the full death benefit. Instead, the insurance company provides a return of premium plus a small percent. A graded death benefit is a feature of some burial insurance and final expense insurance policies.
For example, if the insured person dies during the first two years of coverage, the policy might pay a return of premiums plus 10%. After the graded death benefit period, or for accidental death at any time, the policy would pay the full death benefit.
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.

Methodology

In order to compile our list of the best life insurance companies for seniors, we developed a comprehensive life insurance methodology. We started off by researching what consumers want from life insurance companies, and for that, we looked to third-party consumer studies, including J.D. Power’s 2021 U.S. Life Insurance New Business Study and the 2021 Insurance Barometer Study, by Life Happens and LIMRA.

With those findings in mind, we gathered more than 50 data points on 91 life insurance companies, including ratings for financial strength, customer satisfaction, and customer complaints, as well as information about years in business, online tools, no-exam options, policy types and features, maximum issue age, and available riders.

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.

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

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.

Two people sit and talk. — MoMo Productions / Getty Images

Article Sources

Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our editorial policy.