Progressive Life Insurance Review

Pros Explained

• High coverage limits: Progressive’s life insurance policies come with coverage between $5,000 and $1 million, which will meet a variety of different needs.
• Valuable online tools and articles: Progressive has a variety of resources and online articles that can help you choose the best policy and the right amount of coverage for your needs.
• Online quotes for term life insurance: You can get an instant rate quote for term life insurance online and request a quote for whole, universal, and final expense insurance from Progressive’s website.
• Great customer service options: Progressive has 24/7 phone support, and you can also get help using the online chatbot or through the company’s social media channels.

Cons Explained

• Policies are underwritten by a partner company: Progressive doesn’t underwrite its own life insurance policies; applications get routed through eFinancial, which matches you with a provider based on your coverage needs.
• Most policies require a medical exam: With the exception of final expense insurance, most applicants will need to take a medical exam to get life insurance from Progressive.

Available Plans

Progressive offers four life insurance policies that are sold through eFinancial and are underwritten by popular providers, including AIG, Fidelity Life, Mutual of Omaha, Protective, Prudential, and Transamerica. Here’s a look at the options available:

Term Life Insurance

Progressive’s term life insurance provides coverage for 10, 15, 20, or 30 years for applicants between the ages of 18 and 65. It has level premiums over the lifetime of the policy, with a guaranteed death benefit starting at $100,000. You can get a term life insurance quote online and if you’re happy with the rate, you can submit an application right from the website. 

Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance offers permanent coverage for your lifetime. You can get a whole life insurance policy from Progressive if you are between the ages of 18 and 65. Coverage is available from $50,000 to $1 million, and the policy builds cash value at a fixed interest rate. Once the cash value balance reaches a certain amount, you can pull out some of the money and use it as a personal loan to cover expenses like college tuition or medical bills. If you don’t use the cash value, you will receive the funds when you surrender your policy, or your beneficiaries receive the death benefit upon your passing.

Universal Life Insurance

Universal life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that has an adjustable death benefit and flexible premiums. You can purchase this policy between the ages of 18 and 65, with coverage ranging from $50,000 to $1 million. With universal life insurance, your cash value grows at a fixed rate, and you can use the money to change the amount and frequency of your premiums. You can also increase or decrease your death benefit over the lifetime of the policy based on your family’s financial needs.

Final Expense Insurance

Final expense insurance, also called burial insurance, is designed to help cover funeral costs and other end-of-life expenses. Final expense insurance from Progressive is available for people between the ages of 50 and 85 and doesn’t require a medical exam. You can get coverage between $2,500 and $35,000, and in most cases, your policy can be issued within several days, with no waiting period. According to Progressive’s website, its final expense policies start at $20 per month.

Available Riders

Life insurance riders are optional policies that allow you to purchase coverage for specific situations. Progressive offers a long list of riders, which is ideal if you want to build a personalized policy. Here are some of the riders that Progressive offers:

Accelerated Death Benefit Rider

The accelerated death benefit rider allows you to use some of the funds from your death benefit to pay for end-of-life care if you get diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Critical Illness Rider

The critical illness rider lets you use money from your death benefit if you get diagnosed with a qualifying critical or chronic illness. Examples include heart attack, stroke, and late-stage cancer.

Waiver of Premium Disability Rider

The waiver of premium disability rider will temporarily stop your premium payments if you become disabled and are unable to work. 

Family Income Benefit Rider

The family income benefit rider gives your beneficiaries an additional death benefit that gets paid out in monthly installments and is meant to replace steady income. 

Term Conversion Life Insurance Rider

With a term conversion life insurance rider, you can convert your term life coverage into a permanent policy near the end of the term, without taking another medical exam.

Long-Term Care Rider

The long-term care rider allows you to pull money out of your death benefit and use it to cover the cost of in-home medical care, medical equipment, nursing home stays, and other long-term care expenses.

Customer Service

If you need to contact eFinancial directly, you can call the general customer service number at 800-482-6616. You can also fill out the online form to get in touch via email. If you have specific questions about your policy or want to make changes to your coverage, you should reach out to the company that underwrites your policy.

Complaint Index

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Company Complaint Index is a good way to gauge an insurance company’s customer service. The index scores insurance companies based on customer feedback around claim settlements, denied claims, agent interactions, prices, and more, all weighed in relation to the company's market share. 

Progressive has a high number of company complaints, which is not uncommon for a provider of its size but is something to be aware of. In 2020, Progressive had 159 complaints, with a score of 1.75, which is above the industry average of 1.00. Progressive had slightly more complaints in 2019 and 2018.

But if you buy life insurance through Progressive, you’ll mostly be dealing with eFinancial and the company that underwrites your policy. eFinancial is not rated in the NAIC Complaint Index, and its underwriting partners have varying scores.

For example, Mutual of Omaha has a higher number of complaints than average, with a score of 1.20. Transamerica also has above-average complaints, with a score of 1.31. On the other hand, Protective Life has below-average complaints, with a score of 0.33.

Third-Party Ratings

Progressive is very strong financially, with an A+ rating from AM Best, which is the second-highest possible score. Insurance companies that are financially stable are not at risk of going out of business or declaring bankruptcy, and it also implies that they’re able to repay policyholders without any issues after a covered claim.

However, it’s more important to look at the third-party ratings for eFinancial and its underwriting partners. Unfortunately, eFinancial is not rated by AM Best or any other industry rating organizations, like J.D. Power.

Overall, eFinancial’s underwriting partners have good financial strength scores. For example, Mutual of Omaha has an A+ rating, AIG has an A rating, and Fidelity Life has an A- rating.

In terms of overall satisfaction, however, some partners are better than others. Mutual of Omaha is the only company that is rated above average for overall customer satisfaction in J.D. Power’s 2020 U.S. Life Insurance Study. Protective, Prudential, AIG, and Transamerica are all rated below average.

Cancellation Policy

If you want to cancel a Progressive life insurance policy, you have options; you can stop paying the premiums or formally cancel your policy by contacting an eFinancial agent or the company that underwrites your coverage. There are no fees to cancel a term life insurance policy, but you won’t receive any compensation. If you cancel a permanent policy, there could be surrender charges depending on how long the policy was in force. You will also receive a check for the cash value balance minus any surrender fees when you cancel a whole, universal, or final expense policy.

Price

Life insurance premiums are personalized based on factors like your age, your overall health, and the amount of coverage you want. You can use Progressive’s online quote generator to get an instant rate for term life insurance. Here are some sample rates for Progressive term life insurance:

When you apply for life insurance, companies also consider your gender assigned at birth to calculate your rate. If you are non-binary, you can still get life insurance, but you’ll be asked to mark “male” or “female” as your gender on Progressive’s application. We recommend reaching out to the company to learn more about their underwriting process if you identify as transgender or non-binary. 

Competition

One of Progressive’s biggest competitors in the life insurance space is John Hancock, which is currently the ninth-largest life insurance provider in terms of market share. Overall, John Hancock is a slightly better life insurance provider than Progressive, but the two are pretty comparable.

In terms of coverage, John Hancock offers one more policy option than Progressive, but it does not sell whole life insurance. However, John Hancock sells indexed universal and variable universal life insurance, which Progressive doesn’t offer. 

John Hancock is well known for its wellness rewards program, called Vitality. The program rewards members for healthy living by providing discounts on wearable fitness devices, healthy foods at the grocery store, hotel savings, a free Amazon Prime subscription, a free subscription to the meditation app Headspace, and more.  

Although Progressive is a good life insurance provider, we feel that John Hancock is a better option because it underwrites its own policies, so you’ll only be dealing with one company. Additionally, John Hancock’s Vitality program is a major perk, and Progressive doesn’t offer any wellness rewards or quit smoking incentives.

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Methodology

Our reviews of life insurance companies are based on a quantitative methodology that analyzes each insurer on their stability and reliability, customer service, claims experience, diversity of product lines, and cost. We compare the terms of each type of policy offered—including available coverage amounts, optional riders, and premium payment options—with those of other major life insurance companies. Lastly, we look at how the company is rated by third-party organizations to determine its reliability and overall reputation.

Correction, November 22, 2021: A previous version of this article stated that consumers could not choose their policy underwriter and they could work with an agent in person. It also indicated an A+ AM Best rating for Fidelity Life.