Brighthouse Life Insurance broke away from Metlife Insurance in 2017 and offers customers only a select number of life insurance products. How are they doing now in 2023 and are their products worth the premium? The experts at Final Expense Benefits take a dive into their history and products so you don’t have to.
Brighthouse Financial was once part of Travelers Insurance Company, tracing its beginnings back to June of 1863. When Travelers Insurance was acquired by Metropolitan Life in the early 2000s, it became known as the MetLife Insurance Company of Connecticut (MICC). It was not until recently in August of 2017 that Brighthouse Financial completely separated from MetLife and began selling life insurance and annuity. Brighthouse Financial was not the only separation from Metlife at this time as Brighthouse Life Insurance Company of NY and New England Life Insurance Company also came from this separation. Since its inception, Brighthouse Financial has been completely independent of its former parent companies and has been solely focused on Brighthouse Life Insurance and Annuities.
Brighthouse life insurance offers a hybrid between life insurance and long-term care insurance with their SmartCare policy. Brighthouse SmartCare is an indexed universal life policy with long-term care benefits provided by riders. Indexed Universal Life (IUL) is similar to a whole life insurance policy except that the premiums can be more expensive and have more fees. They offer you the ability to adjust your premiums, and the cash value depends on certain stock market indexes. Like a whole life insurance policy, there is a graded death benefit and they do offer protection on your cash value should the market experience a downturn.
Long-term care insurance is used to cover the future costs of nursing homes, nursing care, and hospice. They are able to provide this long-term care coverage by proving you with monthly benefit payments to cover qualified care costs. Since they send a predetermined lump sum payment, you do not have to send receipts for reimbursement. This is not an indefinite amount of money, however. The maximum amount is determined at the conception of the policy and once the amount given exceeds the lifetime benefit amount, the rider will end.
Brighthouse life insurance offers three different options for their SmartCare plan. You can choose Indexed Long-term Care, where the benefit amount has the potential to increase with the market but is protected from dropping below the original policy amount. Fixed Growth Long-term Care plan offers a 5% compound growth annually. Finally, Brighthouse life insurance offers the Level Long-term Care plan where the benefit amounts remain the same over time. Each policy has an Acceleration of Death Benefit Rider and an Extension of Benefits Rider to determine the duration of coverage once a claim starts. Once the claim begins you choose whether a single premium payment is made or annual payments for up to five years. The underwriters for Brighthouse Life Insurance have made this plan eligible for seniors between the ages of 40 – 75. However, seniors between the ages of 66 – 75 must submit their medical records and submit an interview to test their cognitive ability.
What is an annuity? An annuity is a type of financial product or contract with an insurance company. This contract allows insurance companies like Brighthouse Life Insurance to take payments you give them and invest them for future payouts for retirement and other similar circumstances. Annuities are designed to provide a steady stream of income later in life and have two phases, the accumulation phase, and the annuizitation phase. The first phase is where you fund the annuity for a set period of time and it is invested in the market in order to see growth. Most plans offer some kind of protection in situations where there are economic downturns. The second phase is where your invested money begins to be paid out to you. Brighthouse Life Insurance offers several annuities that are only available with a consultation with one of their financial advisors.
These $10,000 coverage policies have steady and affordable premiums for the life of the policy. If you are looking for great coverage with low monthly premiums, we recommend these top carriers for all of your final expense needs. This is Final Expense Benefits’ best $10,000 insurance policies for seniors.
These figures were obtained from the NFDA and are estimates only. For a detailed quote, please contact an agent.
AM Best can best be described as a rating agency focused on the creditworthiness of insurance companies worldwide. Their grading system is similar to the education system where they go from A+ to F. They measure the likelihood of a company defaulting on its financial obligations to its consumers.
Brighthouse Life Insurance received an “A” rating which indicates a strong financial outlook and will likely meet financial obligations such as paying out claims.
JD Power uses data and AI (artificial intelligence) to understand complex consumer behavior. They are committed to providing unbiased information and embody the highest ethical and professional standards.
During the JD Power 2022 US Individual Life Insurance Study, they received several insurance companies for their overall customer satisfaction index ranking. They did a similar index ranking for their 2022 US Individual Annuity Study. Brighthouse Life Insurance and Brighthouse Annuities both ranked far below the industry average for customer satisfaction.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) records complaint trends for companies every year on their Complaint Index. At Final Expense Insurance, we noticed that John Hancock Insurance ranked above average in the number of complaints. At Final Expense Insurance, we noticed that while Brighthouse Life Insurance had a low Complaint Index score, Brighthouse Annuities had an index score of 2.15. That is more than double the average number of complaints.
While Brighthouse Life Insurance may have some interesting options for annuities they do not have an extensive option of life insurance policies. Seniors interested in their policy would have to be in extremely good health and be able to pay a high premium for term life insurance. Seniors interested in the SmartCare plan may find that their health disqualifies them immediately from coverage, leaving them completely empty-handed. Brighthouse Life Insurance also has a really low customer satisfaction score. You may find yourself becoming frustrated when dealing with their services. For these reasons, we do not recommend Brighthouse Life Insurance. There are a number of high-performing insurance companies that have the life insurance options you need at premiums that you can afford.
Final Expense Benefits partners with over 20 carriers with customer satisfaction guaranteed. They offer no medical exam options at much more affordable rates that fit your needs. Some of our highly-rated carriers include:
If you are looking for trusted and affordable final expense insurance, the experts at Final Expense Benefits have got you covered. Call one of our talented agents today at 1 (866) 311-4338 to get an affordable quote with one of our highly-rated insurance carriers.
Metlife wanted to focus on selling their products to companies as employee benefits. Brighthouse Life Insurance was created in order for the provider to continue to sell life insurance and annuities.
Brighthouse Life Insurance is a completely separate company from Metlife now. Brighthouse Financial Inc began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market in 2017 under the symbol “BHF”.
Brighthouse Life Insurance is located in Charlotte, NC.
If you have family or dependents who you want to support should you pass, then burial insurance is absolutely worth it.
Most final expense insurance policies do not require a health exam. You will have to answer some simple health questions in their application.
Death benefits from a burial insurance policy are not held in probate. So your loved ones should receive the death benefit very quickly.