Combined Life Insurance Review
Combined Insurance is not one of our top-rated life insurance companies. You can review our list of the best life insurance companies for what we think are better options.
Pros Explained
- Quotes are available online or through an agent: You have two options for getting a quote from Combined Insurance.
- Free access to discounts on products and services: Combined Insurance gives you access to discounts on products and services you use every day. However, the offers are not available in every state.
- No medical exams required: Most of the coverage options provided by Combined Insurance don’t require medical exams.
Cons Explained
- Limited life insurance policies: Combined Insurance only offers a whole life insurance policy, which may not satisfy your coverage needs.
- Not all policy options are available in every state: The coverage plans offered are not available in all states. You’ll need to first confirm with your agent.
Fast Fact
VIQTORY, a data-driven military marketing company, awarded combined Insurance as the number-one Military Friendly Employer in the over $1 billion revenue category.
Available Plans
In addition to life insurance, Combined Insurance offers other types of products, including supplemental health, accident, and disability insurance, so you can be sure to find coverage that best fits your needs.
Life Insurance
If your basic life insurance doesn’t provide your family enough protection, supplemental life insurance from Combined Insurance might be right for you. With this plan, you can get several additional benefits, including mortgage and rent expenses, final expenses, and even income replacement.
Combined Insurance offers one basic supplemental life insurance plan:
- Family Life Protector: This is a whole life insurance policy, meaning you get coverage for your entire life as long as you pay premiums. Family Life Protector provides benefits from $5,000 to $100,000 to help your loved ones when you pass away. You can also add an optional accidental death benefit rider, so your family can receive more benefits. The issue ages for this plan are between 0 and 75 years. No benefit is payable for death caused by suicide in the first two policy years.
Supplemental Health
A Supplemental Health insurance plan from Combined Insurance can help you pay for expenses not covered by regular health insurance, such as loss of income. You can use the benefits to pay for out-of-pocket medical costs or any other unexpected expenses.
Combined Insurance offers three Supplemental Health insurance options:
- Cancer Protector: This plan pays you a benefit if you’re diagnosed with or treated for covered cancer. Depending on your needs and the plan you select, you can receive benefits up to $50,000. However, Combined Insurance won’t pay for pre-existing conditions unless you showed symptoms or received treatment 24 months prior to the policy issue date. In addition, no benefit is payable for loss resulting from skin cancer (except malignant melanoma) or any intentionally self-inflicted injury.
- Cancer Care Protector: When you receive treatment for covered cancer, Combined Insurance will pay cash directly to you as long as you paid your Cancer Care Protector premiums. You can use the cash benefits to cover the costs associated with cancer treatment and recovery.
- Critical Care Protector: With Critical Care Protector, you’ll receive a lump sum of up to $50,000 if you’re diagnosed or treated for a critical illness. The conditions covered include cancer (except skin cancer), heart attack, stroke, multiple sclerosis, paralysis, dismemberment, severe burns, heart surgery, blindness, brain tumor, and kidney failure. If you purchase a Critical Care Protector plan, your rates will not change, and your benefits won’t decrease due to age. Your children are also automatically covered through age 26 at no additional cost. You also have the option to cover your spouse and receive benefits of up to 50% of the face amount.
The plan offers additional benefits like mortgage and rent of up to $500 per month if you miss five or more days of work due to critical illness. However, the plan has some limitations—you won’t get covered for a pre-existing condition unless the date of diagnosis is 12 months after the certificate effective date.
Accident Insurance
Supplemental accident insurance policies from Combined Insurance provide cash benefits paid directly to you. The benefits can help you pay for medical and non-medical expenses, hospital confinement, and medical appliances due to an accident. With this plan, you can keep your policy even if you change employers. Plus, there’s no reduction of benefits due to age.
Combined Insurance offers two accident insurance coverage options:
- Accident Protector: With Accident Protector, you’ll receive benefits when accidental injury leads to hospitalization, intensive care, confinement, or emergency room visits. You’ll also receive follow-up benefits, including emergency follow-up treatment, physical therapy, and recovery following hospital confinement. This coverage option doesn’t require a medical exam.
- Accident and Sickness Protector: This plan provides hospitalization benefits for covered accidents and illnesses. Benefits are paid to you directly regardless of any other insurance coverage you may have. Accident and Sickness Protector provides coverage on or off the job, 24 hours a day; plus, you have guaranteed renewability up to age 75. Additionally, there are optional riders that you can use to customize your coverage.
Disability Insurance
Combined Insurance’s supplemental disability policies can help you replace your regular income if you get disabled and are unable to work. Combined Insurance has two supplemental disability insurance policies:
- Income Protector: If you become disabled and unable to work, Income Protector will replace your regular income. This plan can provide coverage for up to two years, depending on the policy you choose. Income Protector also pays a partial recovery benefit equal to 50% of your usual monthly benefit for up to three months or the remainder of the maximum benefit period, whichever is less. You can also waive premium payments during periods of total disability.
- SickPay Plus: This coverage option pays you cash when injury or illness hinders you from working. Conditions such as a flu bug, sprain, broken bone, surgery, hospitalization, or complications during pregnancy are included in the coverage. The coverage begins the first day you can’t work and can last up to six months. Combined Insurance will pay you up to $2,000 per month so that you can handle your everyday living expenses. SickPay Plus also offers discounts up to 35% for healthy lifestyles and doesn’t require a medical exam, just a simple health questionnaire.
Available Riders
When purchasing a life insurance policy, you can customize your coverage to meet your desired needs using riders. Riders are supplemental benefits you can add to your policy. However, not all riders are available on all insurance plans or in every state, so be sure to confirm with your agent.
Combined Insurance offers the following riders:
Accidental Death Benefit Rider
With an accidental death benefit rider, your beneficiaries will receive death benefit paid by the policy plus accidental death benefit covered by the rider.
Child Term Rider
This rider pays out a small death benefit if your child dies within the term of the rider. If the child outlives the coverage, you can convert to permanent life.
Spouse Rider
The spousal rider pays the same benefit amount as you would receive.
Customer Service
For general questions and inquiries regarding coverage options, billing, and claims, you can contact a Combined Insurance customer service representative at 800-225-4500 Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST. If you reside in New York, you can call 800-951-6206 Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST.
Additionally, you can fill out a contact form to get connected to one of the company’s agents who will answer your queries.
Complaint Index
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) releases an annual report of complaints from consumers about insurance companies. Complaint ratios demonstrate the number of complaints an insurer has received relative to its market share.
The industry average complaint ratio is always 1.0. A company with a score below 1.0 means fewer than expected complaints, while a score above 1.0 shows that the company received more than expected complaints.
Combined Insurance received a total of 50 complaints in 2020 and a complaint ratio of 2.74, which is more than two-and-a-half times worse than average.
Since 2018, Combined Insurance has had its complaint ratio above the industry average of 1.0
Third-Party Ratings
Credit rating agencies evaluate the stability of insurance companies by awarding financial strength ratings (FSR). A strong FSR shows that the company can meet its policy and contractual obligations.
Combined Insurance received an A+ (Superior) rating, the second-highest possible rating from AM Best, indicating that it has the financial strength to pay out claims as promised. The company, however, didn’t make the list of the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study. J.D. Power evaluates and ranks top insurance companies based on pricing, customer service, and communication.
Cancellation Policy
If you’d like to cancel your whole life insurance policy with Combined Insurance, you can contact the customer care center at 800-225-4500. Combined Insurance’s standard “free look” period is 30 days, which is longer than the industry average. During this period, you can cancel your policy without penalties or surrender charges.
Price
When it comes to pricing, you can get a quote online or through an agent. Keep in mind that pricing may vary depending on the coverage option you choose, optional riders, and other various personal factors, including age, health history, and location.
As with any life insurance policy, Combined Insurance will require you to state your gender during application. But that doesn’t mean being non-binary will disqualify you from getting life insurance. However, most insurance companies haven’t updated their underwriting process regarding gender issues.
Competition
When shopping for a life insurance policy, it’s always wise to compare coverage plans from multiple insurers. That way, you can be sure that you get the best coverage at the best possible price.
Combined Insurance only offers one whole life insurance policy, along with disability insurance, accident insurance, and supplemental health coverage. If you’re looking for multiple life insurance policy options, you may want to look at New York Life.
While both companies earned the highest possible rating from AM Best, New York Life wins for the fact that you’ll get coverage plans beyond whole life. In addition, New York Life has an excellent complaint index; Combined Insurance has a worse-than-average complaint index relative to its market share.
| Combined Insurance | New York Life | |
|---|---|---|
| Market Share | Not applicable | Second-largest in the U.S., 6.0% |
| Number of Plans | 8 | 10 |
| Dividends for 2020 | $1.9 billion | Not applicable |
| Wellness Program Discounts/Quit Smoking Incentives | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Service Method | Agents | Agents |
| AM Best Rating | A+ (Superior) | A++ (Superior) |
| Price Rank | Not applicable | Better than most |
| Complaints Trend | 2.74 (Poor) | 0.16 (Excellent) |
Final Verdict
If you’re looking for comprehensive protection from accidents, disability, and supplemental health in addition to a whole life policy, Combined Insurance might be perfect for you. With most of the plans providing cash benefits paid directly to you, you can handle your living expenses when unexpected events occur. In addition, you can purchase some coverage options without a medical exam.
Methodology
We review life insurance companies using a data-driven methodology that analyzes each insurer’s diversity of product lines, cost, customer service, and complaint trends. We also compare coverage plans, optional riders, and payment options offered by each carrier with other top insurance companies. Finally, we check third-party ratings to determine the company’s stability and reliability.
0 Commentaires