North American Company for Life and Health Review

Thang Truong
Thang Truong
Updated on:

North American Company for Life and Health has over 130 years of experience, and currently has 615,369 insurance policies and annuities in force and assets of over $27 billion. North American is a privately owned company, and as such, it is not subject to short-term profits like many publicly traded companies. This makes them unusual in the insurance industry. Their name seems a little misleading, as they don’t sell health insurance. 

They originated in 1886 as North American Accident Association. In 1918, they became the first company to offer disability insurance to women. Today, Forbes ranks them as number 77 on the list of America’s largest privately held companies. They offer term, universal life (UL), indexed universal life (IUL), guaranteed universal life (GUL), and annuities. 

Pros and Cons

ProsCons
– Lower rates than many insurance companies
– Excellent financial strength
– Excellent customer service
– No whole life insurance options
– Products are sold through agents
– Not much information on the website 

Products Offered by North American Company for Life and Health

North American Company offers term, universal life, guaranteed universal life (GUL), and indexed universal life (IUL) insurance coverage. 

Term life insurance: Terms are available for 10, 20 or 30 years. You’ll pay a level premium throughout the term of the policy, and if you die sometime during that time, your heirs will get the death benefit. If you outlive the term, you get nothing (other than all that peace of mind that came with knowing your family would be taken care of if something happened to you). 

As you can see from the term quote below, rates are pretty reasonable. Our customer was a 22-year old male non-smoker in excellent health, living in Iowa. All policies include an accelerated death benefit for critical, chronic and terminal illness. This means you can access the death benefit early if you are diagnosed with a qualifying illness. You can also convert to a permanent life insurance policy without any additional underwriting if you choose to. 

A screenshot of a cell phone

Description automatically generated

Universal life insurance: This is permanent life insurance that gives you the opportunity to build cash value along with your life insurance. The cash value account earns interest at a set interest rate. You can pay up to age 120, adjust your premium or your death benefit. 

Guaranteed Universal life (GUL): If you want permanent life insurance, but aren’t interested in accumulating cash value, a guaranteed universal life policy may be for you. This policy lasts your entire life but doesn’t build (hardly) any cash value. 

>>MORE: Is Guaranteed Universal Life Insurance (GUL) Worth it?

>>MORE: The Best 5 Companies for Guaranteed Universal Life Insurance (GUL)

[elementor-template id=”2957″]

Indexed Universal life insurance (IUL): North American Company offers four IUL policies to choose from:

  • Builder IUL
  • Rapid Builder IUL
  • Smart Builder IUL 
  • Guarantee Builder IUL

All of these products are designed to supplement retirement income while also providing permanent life insurance. Like all IUL policies, you’ll build cash value according to an index of market performance, usually S&P 500. This way, you build cash value faster but aren’t completely at the market’s mercy if it tanks, because there’s a floor built in. Usually the floor is around 1%, so if the market crashes, you’ll earn 1% on your investments. Not a lot, but better than losing money. 

>>MORE: Why is Indexed Universal Life Insurance (IUL) a Good Option for Retirement Savings?

>>MORE: The Best 6 Companies for Indexed Universal Life Insurance (IUL)

[elementor-template id=”2781″]

They also offer annuities.

Financial Strength Rating of North American Company for Life and Health

A.M. Best gives North American Company for Life and Health an A+ or superior rating and predicts a stable outlook. These things are important, because you want to be confident your insurance company has the resources to pay claims. 

Customer Satisfaction Rating of North American Company for Life and Health

North American Company for Life and Health insurance does not appear on J.D. Power’s life insurance study for 2019 (2020’s ratings aren’t out yet) so we will have to consider other sources. 

The BBB gives North American Company a score of A+. They’ve been accredited since 2018. 

There are 18 reviews: four one-star reviews, eleven five star reviews and three four star reviews. People praise the customer service and remark on how helpful everyone was. The one star reviews complain of delayed payouts. There are 14 complaints, which center around either customers misunderstanding what they had purchased, or communication and billing issues. 

Either way, 14 complaints isn’t bad, and many of the reviews were very positive. 

Consumer Complaints Rating of North American Company for Life and Health

The NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) gives every insurance company an index score. A score of 1.0 means the company has exactly as many complaints as you would expect for their size. A score of 2.0 would mean they received twice the average number of complaints. North American Company got a score of .16, so they received far fewer complaints than expected. 

Digital Experience Rating of North American Company for Life and Health

Instead of getting you an actual online quote, North American Company gives you a chart with a range of terms and premiums, depending on what health class you fall into. This is helpful, or at least interesting, as you can compare what different health classifications will do to your rates. 

You can’t get a quote for any IUL policy, or UL or GUL policy—for that, you have to go through an agent. This could be good or bad. Agents can be helpful in explaining the features of a policy, but they do work on commission and rates are usually higher when agents are involved. Still, it’s a rare company that will give you an online quote for permanent life insurance. 

Once you’re a customer, you can:

  • Update your account
  • Withdraw money (from annuity accounts)
  • Request a loan
  • Pay premiums

Since they rely on agents to sell policies, a lot of information you should be able to find online is only available through agents. They don’t have a mobile app. 

Last Thoughts

North American Company for Life and Health offers good rates and excellent customer service. If you’re interested in anything other than term insurance, you’ll have to go through an agent. If that’s not for you, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Ditto if you’re interested in whole life insurance. But North American Company is a solid choice and could work for you.

[elementor-template id=”2781″]

Thang Truong

Thang Truong covers small business insurance and small business success at BravoPolicy. He is a licensed P&C insurance agent. Previously, he held product leadership positions at realtor.com, Capital One, NerdWallet, and Mulberry Technology. He holds a MBA degree from UC Berkeley - Haas School of Business.

More Stories

6 Best Indexed Universal Life Insurance (IUL) for 2023

Are you looking for a way to set aside some extra money for your senior years, and maybe a little extra for loved ones to inherit? Most people opt for indexed universal life insurance because it offers the greatest cash value growth tied to the performance of S&P 500 index with the least risk thanks […]

Best Self-Directed Roth IRA Companies for 2023

A self-directed Roth IRA is much like a regular Roth IRA, but offers more flexibility as far as what you can invest in. Whereas a regular Roth will only let you invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, and real-estate investment trusts, a self-directed Roth lets you invest in a greater variety of investment options.  […]

The 5 Best Hybrid Long-Term Care Insurance Companies for 2023

If you’ve decided to plan for every eventuality, you’d be smart to include a plan to cover long-term care. Someone turning 65 this year has an almost 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care, and about 13% of those will need it for five years or more. Long-term care is expensive and can […]

The 3 Best Traditional Long-Term Care Insurance Companies for 2023

Long term care is something that no one likes to think about, but unfortunately, many people will eventually need. Health care costs are skyrocketing, and a lengthy stay at a long-term care facility can easily bankrupt most people’s nest eggs. Long-term care insurance is one way to protect both yourself and your retirement savings. Out […]

The Best Long-Term Care Insurance Companies in California for 2023

California residents who are keen to protect themselves and their families against the worst events in life may be considering long-term care insurance. However, you might not know much about LTC insurance or how it is handled in California. Let’s take a look: What is Long-Term Care Insurance? Long-term care insurance helps pay for long-term […]

The Best Long-Term Care Insurance Companies in Arizona for 2023

Arizona is a great place to retire. It’s warm, there’s no snow to shovel, and Arizona improves the quality of life for anyone with allergies or asthma. When you pack your bags and retire to Arizona, you’re probably not thinking about long-term care. But the sad reality is that 47% of men and 58% of […]

The Best Long-Term Care Insurance Companies in Florida for 2023

There’s a lot of good reasons to retire in Florida. The weather is warm, the beaches are beautiful, and there are lots of other retirees to socialize with. Also, Florida has no state income taxes, no inheritance taxes, and no estate taxes. When you pack up your things and move to Florida, you’re probably not […]

Private Placement Life Insurance: Everything You Need to Know

If you haven’t heard of private placement life insurance, you probably don’t qualify to buy it. Private placement life insurance is typically for investors with millions in liquid cash that they need to invest for tax reasons.  What is Private Placement Life Insurance? Who Qualifies for Private Placement Life Insurance? Benefits of Private Placement Life […]

Nationwide IUL – A Strong Product With Great Features and Excellent Ratings

The Nationwide IUL product can help you either supplement your retirement income or ensure your beneficiaries future by leaving them a nice tax-free death benefit. Obviously, you have many options when it comes to IUL policies, so you want to know how does Nationwide’s policy stack up against the competition? Let’s take a look. Pros […]

Transamerica IUL – A Solid Product but High Consumer Complaint Score & Law Suits

Consumers looking to supplement their retirement income often settle on an indexed life insurance policy. These policies build cash value based on market performance and allow your heirs to enjoy a tax-free death benefit. Let’s take a look at Transamerica’s indexed universal life insurance policy and see what makes it stand apart from other such […]