The Best Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance Companies (2024)

Guaranteed issue is a type of life insurance that doesn’t involve a health exam or questions about your medical past. As the name implies, it guarantees acceptance — but at a cost.

Guaranteed issue life insurance plans have low face values, usually up to only $25,000, and expensive premiums because insurers have no insight into the risk level of each applicant. Policies often don’t include a cash value component, unlike most permanent life insurance. It may have a graded death benefit, meaning that it doesn’t pay the full death benefit until a waiting period of two or three years has passed.

Offering a small death benefit and accepting any policyholder regardless of health status, guaranteed acceptance policies work for seniors who wish to cover their end-of-life expenses, such as funeral costs, and for people who were denied traditional life insurance because of chronic health issues.

Here are our top picks for life insurance companies that offer guaranteed-issue policies:

• Ethos: Our top pick
• TruStage: Our pick for whole life coverage
• Bestow: Our pick for online term policies
• Fidelity Life: Our pick for accidental death coverage
• Mutual of Omaha: Our pick for accelerated death benefits

Guaranteed issue life insurance plans usually feature a graded death benefit, or waiting period. This means that the full death benefit payout won’t be made to your beneficiaries until a waiting period of two to three years has passed.

A waiting period prevents immediate large payouts from terminally ill individuals who sign up for coverage just in time for their loved ones to receive cash benefits. If a natural death occurs before the waiting period has elapsed, the insurance company will refund any paid premiums plus interest to your beneficiaries. Waiting periods commonly exclude accidental deaths, in which your beneficiaries would receive the full benefit.

Because guaranteed issue life insurance eliminates the medical underwriting process, premiums are usually higher than for policies that require medical exams. Additionally, face values or death benefits for guaranteed issue plans are usually lower than for more traditional term and permanent life insurance plans.

The cost of life insurance usually hinges on a variety of personal factors like your health conditions, smoking status and personal hobbies. But guaranteed issue life insurance premiums depend on just three factors — location, gender and age.

Guaranteed issue life insurance has clear advantages that make it an appealing form of life insurance. It doesn’t involve a medical exam or health questions and it’s typically easy to apply online and receive coverage quickly. This makes it an option to consider for anyone who isn’t concerned about having a high death benefit and is motivated to avoid divulging details about their medical risk.

However, there are significant downsides. The death benefit is small, while premiums are high for the amount of coverage you get. Plus, the death benefit could be graded, requiring you to have active coverage for two or three years before the full amount becomes available to your loved ones.

Guaranteed issue life insurance might be worth it if you don’t require a large face amount and don’t have an ailment that makes you ineligible for other life insurance. If you’re looking for convenience and to skip the medical exam, we recommend shopping for simplified-issue life insurance instead.

Two drawbacks to guaranteed issue life insurance plans are the high costs and low amounts of coverage available. Assuming you don’t have severe health conditions that disqualify you from other types of life insurance, you might want to shop for more affordable alternatives to guaranteed issue life insurance. Here are two examples:

• Simplified issue life insurance: Like guaranteed issue life insurance, simplified issue coverage does not require a medical exam. However, you will have to answer health and lifestyle questions upon applying for coverage. Instead of relying on an exam, insurers use algorithms and databases to assess your eligibility. This usually makes the application process much shorter than for a traditional life insurance policy, and premiums are cheaper than guaranteed issue plans. As a downside, an insurer may reject your application based on the information it gathers about your health.
• Accelerated underwriting: Also known as “instant decision” life insurance, accelerated underwriting uses advanced technology and data analytics instead of a medical exam. Instead of waiting weeks or months, you can often get an underwriting decision in a matter of days to under a day. The underwriting process includes reviewing health questions, your prescription history and your driving record. However, as with simplified issue plans, approval is not guaranteed when you apply through an accelerated underwriting process.

Guaranteed issue life insurance offers an extremely simple application process and fast coverage that you can’t be turned down for if you meet the age and location requirements. However, unless you’ve been denied other types of life insurance coverage, you might want to consider other life insurance options like simplified issue insurance, which only requires that you answer a few medical questions.

If guaranteed issue life insurance is right for you, we recommend getting a quote from each of the providers above. You may also want to speak with a life insurance agent to learn more about your options.

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