Aflac offers much more than just entertaining commercials featuring the Aflac duck. Since 1955, Aflac has been providing people with a wide variety of insurance coverage, through both the workplace and direct sales to individuals.
This Aflac life insurance review will detail the company’s background, the different coverages offered, how those coverages are marketed, and Aflac life insurance.
Aflac: An Impressive Resume
Because of the quality of their marketing efforts, Aflac is very well known and respected. Very few insurance industry insiders would debate the fact that the company dominates workplace sales of insurance products.
Founded over six decades ago by three brothers who saw a need for people to have protection when they were facing medical bills, the company has been led by the same CEO for the past 30 years (Dan Amos) and employs over 10,000 people.
With headquarters in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac insures more than 50 million individuals. People have come to trust Aflac because of the reputation of the company, Aflac reviews, the endorsement of their employers, and the very solid financial rankings the company enjoys. Aflac is:
- Rated A+ (Superior) by the A.M. Best Co. (the most widely respected rater of insurance companies)
- Rated A+ from Standard and Poor’s
- Rated As3 from Moody’s
Aflac is also a member of the Fortune 500 and has been ranked as a top employer by Fortune for 18 years. Aflac insurance reviews are excellent, as policyholder satisfaction is extremely high.
A Wide Variety of Coverages
When thinking of Aflac, some people think of a company that offers two types of coverage: supplemental accident insurance and cancer insurance. While these are coverages provided by the company, Aflac also offers considerably more. Their coverages include:
- Accident Insurance
- Cancer Insurance
- Critical Illness Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Hospital Insurance
- Short-Term Disability Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Insurance
As can be seen, this is a very comprehensive list of coverage and offers individuals financial protection against unexpected, and often very expensive, emergencies and expenses.
Employer-Sponsored Coverages
Why do so many people get their Aflac coverage at their place of employment? The driving reason is that many employers recognize that there are significant gaps in the insurance coverage they offer their employees and that Aflac has what they need to fill in the holes. Convenient payroll deduction makes it easy for employees to pay their monthly premiums.
For example, group health insurance very often carries with it high deductibles and co-payments that employees must pay when they use their coverage at a provider in the approved network from which they receive coverage (going outside of the network can cost considerably more).
These deductibles and co-payments can add up to be substantial amounts that the individual must pay at the time of service. Because of cost factors, many employers now offer only high annual deductible plans, with deductibles often starting at $1,000, and some being as high as $10,000. Once the deductible is met, co-insurance payments can also add up to thousands of dollars.
Aflac insurance coverage helps employees pay a portion, if not all, of the medical expenses that are their responsibility. For example:
- Employee’s hospital bill: $10,000
- Insurance deductible: $1,000
- Co-insurance: $2,000
- Aflac payment to the employee: $1,500
In this example, the employee’s financial responsibility was reduced from $3,000 to $1,500 because Aflac hospital insurance paid them $1,500 directly (this is an example only, coverage will vary depending upon the employee’s choice of the amount of coverage).
The payment by Aflac goes directly to the insured, letting them choose who gets payment. For example, instead of paying a hospital for expenses incurred, the employee may choose to use that money to pay for child-care expenses necessitated by their stay in the hospital. This is made possible by Aflac making the check payable to the policyholder, not the service provider.
Aflac Life Insurance: Whole Life and Term
Many people choose to obtain life insurance coverage through Aflac either at work or on an individual basis. As mentioned above, Aflac’s ability to pay claims is rated superior and their financial stability does give many people peace of mind when choosing to do business with them.
According to Aflac, 70% of all households surveyed said they would have trouble covering everyday living expenses after several months if the primary wage earner died. Many people purchase Aflac life insurance to provide money to their survivors so mortgage payments can be made or children can go to college.
Aflac offers two types of life insurance through employer-sponsored plans, whole life insurance, and term life insurance. Let’s look at each.
Whole Life Insurance is considered to be permanent life insurance, meaning that someone buys it with the intention of keeping it their “whole life.” It is very often bought by employees that have spouses, children, and mortgages because it not only provides financial protection for others if the insured dies, but it accumulates cash value inside of the policy. This cash value can be used for important purposes later in life, such as helping to fund a child’s education or supplement retirement savings.
In addition to purchasing life insurance to cover themselves, employees can purchase whole life insurance for their spouse and/or children. This allows their family members to also have policies that protect the family and accrue cash value for future use.
Some additional benefits Aflac offers whole life policyowners are:
- Waiver of Premium Rider: premiums are paid by Aflac if the policyowner becomes disabled
- Accidental Death Benefit Rider: an additional death benefit is paid if the insured dies due to a covered accident
- Accelerated Death Benefit Rider: a percentage of the death benefit may be paid to the policyowner if the insured is diagnosed with a terminal illness
Aflac’s whole life policy premiums are guaranteed to never increase, allowing for consistent monthly budgeting. In addition, the coverage is portable, meaning the policy can be kept by the employee if they change jobs or retire.
Term Insurance is also offered by Aflac via payroll deduction. Term life insurance is sometimes referred to as temporary insurance because it is only needed for a certain “term.”
A good example of this would be someone with a thirty-year mortgage. Many people buy 30-year term life insurance policies to cover themselves in the event of death during the length of the mortgage term, then stop paying premiums once the mortgage has been paid in full.
Aflac offers term life insurance up to $500,000, depending upon age. The types of term coverage offered are:
- 10-year term life plan
- 20-year term life plan
- 30-year term life plan
The length of the term offered will depend on the life insurance age of the insured.
Aflac makes it easy for employees to purchase term life insurance coverage. With no medical questions asked, up to $25,000 of insurance can be purchased. This guaranteed issue coverage is of great benefit to many people that either have no life insurance, need more life insurance than they currently have, or have pre-existing medical conditions.
It is very difficult for people with pre-existing medical conditions to obtain life insurance coverage. Most insurers won’t cover people that have, or have had physical or mental illnesses.
For example, a person who has suffered from severe depression or anxiety would very likely be declined if they applied for life insurance, or they would have to pay substantially more than healthier people for the same coverage. Similarly, a person with Type 1 diabetes would also be subject to premiums being increased, or they would very likely be denied coverage by the insurance company.
This guaranteed issue life insurance benefit is made possible, in part, because of the tens of millions of people that Aflac insures. The company can spread out the risk and make their liability manageable. Aflac has done a great job of this, which is one reason why they receive the highest financial ratings for claims-paying ability.
Lastly, Juvenile Life offered by Aflac either through an employer or purchased directly from the company is of great value to many. With child mortality rates being low, the largest benefit the juvenile policy offers is the guarantee of insurability in the future as they mature into adulthood. Their policy can be an asset they carry with them for the rest of their lives. This is an investment many parents make with Aflac to give to their children. As we wrap up this Aflac life insurance review, here’s some fun facts about the company spokesman.
The Aflac Duck
Many life insurance companies that we recognize like Colonial Penn and Globe life advertise on television a lot. Aflac is no exception to this rule. The duck, featured in many Aflac television commercials, has become internationally known and has become a favorite of many. It made its debut in 2000 and has appeared in over 75 commercials, helping to make Aflac a household name.
The voice of the duck has been provided by four individuals. Many are familiar with Gilbert Gottfried who died in April of 2022. Others not as famous but still notable are Daniel McKeague, Ted Evans and Jeff Manning. Based on its popularity, the Aflac duck promises to be with us for years to come.
Frequently asked Questions
Does Aflac offer more than Life Insurance?
Aflac is primarily sold through employers as voluntary insurance benefits which can be used to supplement group health plans in the workplace. Other than life insurance, Aflac also offers:
Accident insurance
Cancer Insurance
Critial Illness insurance
Hospital Plans
Short-term disability insurance
Dental and vision plans
Does Aflac offer low-cost term insurance?
Aflac’s term life insurance product is very competitive but comes in somewhat higher than the rates offered by the top highly-rated insurance companies because being sold as group insurance, health issues are not part of the underwriting process.
Do I have to buy Aflac Life Insurance through my employer?
Although Aflac offers supplemental insurance to individuals, its life insurance plans are offered through employers as group life insurance and are guaranteed issue (no medical) policies.
