To compile our ratings, we researched 46 life insurance companies, collected 186 National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) data points including the number of consumer complaints filed against such companies in 2023, surveyed 1,430 life insurance policyholders, and analyzed a total of 1,652 company and policy features. The following describes our approach to researching and analyzing life insurance companies to guide prospective consumers.
U.S. News Methodology for Evaluating Life Insurance Companies
1. We identified the companies people care most about.
U.S. News analyzed and compared a variety of publicly available data about life insurance companies. We identified 46 companies that offer life insurance policies in the U.S. and reduced that list based on volume of consumer searches online because it is a good proxy to determine consumer interests, the number of states where the insurers are licensed, and NAIC index data. We then narrowed our list down further to 10 life insurance companies after we removed insurance companies with major public legal investigations against them.
2. We collected data needed to make product comparisons.
With the companies determined, we conducted a comprehensive data collection on the features and policy details of their life insurance policies to create a general summary of what we think consumers should know to assist with their purchasing decisions. We collected data via NAIC indexes, a consumer survey, and company and policy feature analysis.
- We collected 186 NAIC data points including consumer complaints and annual premium for all companies at the subsidiary level. The complaint data points were weighed by the size of the annual premium written, and we aggregated the weighted data points to calculate the NAIC score at the parent company level.
- We surveyed 1,430 life insurance policyholders (843 women and 587 men, with an average age of 54.6 years) to assess their satisfaction with their policy. The survey was conducted in October 2024, and the target respondents were individuals in the U.S. who currently have a life insurance policy from one of the 10 companies we identified. Survey respondents were located in the South (38.0%), Midwest (23.7%), Northeast (21.4%), and West (16.5%). We asked about their experience with the following:
- Application process
- Underwriting process
- Customer service
- Any negative experiences (unexpected premium increase, policy change, poor communication, hidden fees and charges, unexpected policy lapse, etc.)
- What type of policy was purchased
- Reason for purchasing
- Means by which policy was obtained (online, via phone, in person, etc.)
- We collected data on 1,652 company and policy features from life insurance company websites. These features were selected based on the consumer survey results indicating what consumers care most about, according to our survey results, including:
- Policy types available (term, whole, universal, etc.)
- Online tools available (online quotes, online claim filing, online purchase)
- States licensed in
- Coverage amounts available
- Medical exam requirements
- Age limit requirements to issue a policy
- Benefits, riders, other features
3. We converted the raw data into standardized scores.
To account for different data types from survey results (e.g., 5 = very satisfied) and company and policy features (e.g., 75 age limit), we standardized each data point by converting raw data into numeric scores with a common unit of measurement. The standardization allowed us to combine different data types into our model, while retaining the relative variability of the original data points for fair and accurate assessment.
4. We assigned weights to the standardized scores.
To integrate standardized scores into our model, we used the survey results and industry knowledge to identify which scores should influence the purchasing decision more strongly. We also considered the heterogeneity of the scores. If a score was highly heterogeneous across products, we assigned more weight to that score. But, if a score was uniform for all products, we reduced the weight of that score. For example, if all companies offered a term policy that was convertible to a permanent policy, we removed term convertibility from the model. This allowed us to enhance the model’s ability to detect meaningful differences by emphasizing the scores with stronger discriminant power. As a result, we arrived at the following weights:
- NAIC index data (30% of the U.S. News Rating)
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Survey data (30% of the U.S. News Rating)
- 15% overall experiences (application process, underwriting process, customer service)
- 15% any negative experiences (hidden fees and charges, poor communication, etc.)
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Company and policy features (40% of the U.S. News Rating)
- 15% company features (policy types, online quotes, online claim filing, online purchase, states licensed in)*
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25% policy features*
- 8% term policy (coverage range, medical exam requirement, age limit range, term period length, convertible to permanent policy, etc.)
- 14% whole policy (coverage range, medical exam requirement, age limit range, etc.)
- 4% universal policy (coverage range, medical exam requirement, age limit range, etc.)
USN&WR
The U.S. News Ratings for life insurance companies comprises NAIC Index data (30%), the consumer survey results (30%: overall experience and any negative experience), and company and policy features (40%: policy types available, online tools, term, whole, and universal policy details, etc.). Percentage values are rounded to the nearest whole number for better display and do not sum to 100%.
5. We aggregated the weighted scores into the U.S. News Rating.
We combined the weighted scores and converted the value to the U.S. News Rating on a 5-point scale, with 5.0 being the best possible rating.
USN&WR
The U.S. News Rating is a sum of weighted scores on a 5-point scale, wherex = score, = weight, and n = number of scores in the rating.
The U.S. News Rating for each life insurance company allows us to make product comparisons and ratings. The ratings are periodically updated based on the latest information we collect from online sources, NAIC, and surveys.
