6 Best Burial Insurance Companies | 2024 (2024)

Our top five picks for the best burial insurance companies include:

• Ethos: Our top pick
• Fidelity: Our pick for accidental death coverage
• Mutual of Omaha:Our pick for accelerated death benefits
• State Farm:Our pick for customer satisfaction
• New York Life:Our pick for permanent life coverage
• Lemonade:Our pick for best alternative

Ethos

• Policies offered: Term and final expense whole life

• AM Best rating: Not rated

Ethos is an insurtech (insurance technology) company that works a little differently than traditional life insurance carriers. Instead of underwriting policies itself, Ethos is a third-party administrator of life insurance policies. Ethos works with some of the leading life insurance companies — including Legal & General America (LGA) and Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. — to offer accessible and affordable life insurance plans. This means Ethos doesn’t have an AM Best rating, though it generally partners with carriers that have above-average ratings. For example, Legal & General America’s rating is A+.

Even though Ethos isn’t a traditional life insurance carrier, we think it’s a great option for burial insurance because you can get coverage without a medical exam. The company’s final expenses whole life insurance policy is designed for seniors, ages 66 to 85. And unlike many burial life insurance policies, Ethos’ coverage offers a wider range of coverage options than many other companies — from $1,000 up to $30,000.

Mutual of Omaha

• Policies offered: Term, whole life, universal and accidental death insurance
• AM Best rating: A+

Mutual of Omaha makes finding and comparing its life insurance products simple with an easy-to-navigate website with built-in product comparison pages. Burial insurance shoppers can use the final expenses calculator to estimate how much their burial or funeral expenses might cost.

The company made our list for the best burial insurance thanks to its high AM Best rating, indicating Mutual of Omaha has strong financials to cover claim payouts. Additionally, policyholders who choose a universal life policy receive early access to a portion of their death benefit to cover the costs of terminal or chronic illness. Known as accelerated death benefits, this could be a huge benefit if you develop a terminal illness and need to cover expensive medical bills.

State Farm

• Policies offered: Term, whole life, universal and final expense whole life

• AM Best rating: A++

State Farm offers a range of insurance and financial products, including final expense whole life insurance. The company makes our list of the best burial insurance thanks to its high customer satisfaction rating and financial strength. The company took the highest ranking in the 2022 J.D. Power Life Insurance Study for overall customer satisfaction. Additionally, the A++ AM Best rating is the highest available — showing State Farm likely has the financial backing necessary to pay life insurance claims.

New York Life

• Policies offered: Term, whole life and universal life insurance

• AM Best rating: A++

New York Life specializes in life insurance products. The company also offers investment products like annuities and mutual funds. With over 175 years of insurance experience, New York Life is one of the longest-standing life insurance companies, and it has a strong A++ AM Best rating.

We chose New York Life as our top pick for permanent life insurance. Unlike other final expense insurance companies, New York Life doesn’t offer a specific burial insurance product. Instead, policyholders can customize their coverage needs with whole life insurance. New York Life lets you choose the benefit amount that works best for you. Additionally, whole life insurance customers are eligible for dividends if the company performs well financially.

Lemonade

• Policies offered: Term life insurance

• AM Best rating: A+ (applies to North American Company for Life and Health Insurance)

Lemonade is an insurtech company that uses technology to make the process of getting life insurance easier. Users can easily apply online and potentially have coverage in minutes. The company offers term life insurance policies with no medical exam necessary, though you may have to answer health questions for simplified issue policies. The company doesn’t offer a burial life insurance product, but the affordable term policies with no medical exam make Lemonade our pick for best alternative to burial coverage.

Lemonade doesn’t write its own life insurance policies — it partners with North American Company for Life and Health Insurance, which has a strong AM Best rating. North American has also provided insurance products for over 130 years, so Lemonade customers generally feel the company can pay claims.

Burial insurance is a type of life insurance that helps cover your end-of-life expenses when you pass away. Burial policies are a type of permanent life insurance. Unlike term policies, which expire after a certain time, permanent coverage protects you until your death — as long as you pay your premiums. A burial life insurance plan comes with lower-than-usual death benefit options, such as a maximum of $25,000. Lower death benefit amounts help keep the cost of premiums down while still covering some or all of your final expenses like burial, cremation or funeral costs.

Generally, burial insurance policies don’t require a medical exam. Many policies are also guaranteed-issue, which means anyone who applies qualifies for a plan. This makes burial coverage an ideal solution for someone with failing health or seniors who won’t qualify for traditional life insurance.

Not sure if burial insurance is right for you? Several alternatives to burial or funeral insurance might make sense for your situation.

• Term life insurance: Term policies often offer the best combination of coverage and value. In addition, many providers offer term life insurance with no medical exam. However, a term policy has an expiration date, and many term providers limit the age of new applicants. Term coverage could be a good alternative to burial insurance for someone younger who is facing poor health.

• Traditional whole life: Most burial insurance policies are a type of whole life coverage, which means you pay a set premium for the life of the policy. However, traditional whole life policies often offer higher death benefits than burial coverage and may provide more cash value growth. They’re also generally much more expensive than burial coverage and require a medical exam.

• Universal life: Universal life insurance is a permanent life insurance policy that lets policyholders adjust their premiums and death benefit, with certain limits. Although more expensive than burial coverage, the adjustability of a universal life policy makes it an attractive alternative. Like traditional whole life policies, universal life coverage generally requires a medical exam.

• Final expense life insurance: Final expense insurance is another name for burial insurance. Generally, final expense policies don’t require a medical exam and may be guaranteed-issue life insurance. Some insurance carriers may market their burial insurance as final expense insurance, but they often cover the same costs.

Life insurance is a type of insurance contract between you (the policyholder) and an insurance company. When you pass away, the money from the insurance policy — called the death benefit — is passed to your beneficiaries, such as family members, to provide them with financial security. Life insurance comes in many forms and most plans are customizable to meet your needs.

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is often one of the most common and affordable types of life insurance. A term policy lasts for a set amount of time, known as the term. At the end of the term, the policy expires and your coverage ends. Some policies let you renew your term coverage or switch to permanent life insurance at the end of the term.

The most common types of term life insurance are:

• Level term insurance
• Decreasing term insurance
• Renewable term insurance
• Convertible term insurance
• Return of premium life insurance
• Group term coverage through an employer
• Mortgage life insurance

Permanent Life Insurance

Permanent life insurance is a type of policy that offers coverage until your death, as long as you pay your premiums. Unlike term insurance, permanent life insurance policies don’t expire. Most permanent life policies also have a cash value component. Cash value is a feature of permanent life insurance that puts a portion of your premium payments into a savings account. This cash value grows tax-deferred.

The five most common types of permanent life insurance include:

• Whole life, including burial life insurance
• Universal life
• Variable life
• Variable universal life
• Indexed universal life

Although many burial life insurance policies guarantee coverage for seniors, the average cost isn’t the same for everyone. An insurance provider uses several factors to determine your insurance cost, such as:

• Age: Older people generally pay higher premiums because there’s more risk to insure you.
• Gender: Typically, men pay higher life insurance premiums than women.
• Health: While you may not have to go through medical underwriting with an exam, many burial insurance companies ask health questions to identify any health conditions.
• Amount of coverage: Choosing a higher coverage amount generally increases the amount you pay.

Burial life insurance often has a higher relative cost per benefit when compared with other types of life insurance, even though monthly premiums may be lower. But burial coverage could still be an ideal life insurance solution for you. Situations where burial insurance could be worth it include:

• You’re a senior in poor health and don’t have other life insurance policies or a large amount of savings. You want to lessen the financial burden on your family by using burial insurance to cover your funeral costs, including embalming or cremation fees and funeral home director fees.
• You’re an adult who’s been diagnosed with a condition that will shorten your lifespan. You want to help your loved ones cover your funeral costs but worry you won’t be approved for traditional life insurance due to your health.

On the other hand, burial insurance may not be worth the cost if you fit one of these situations:

• You have an existing permanent life insurance policy with a death benefit amount that’s large enough to cover your final expenses.
• You’ve chosen the funeral and burial services you want and have a savings account to cover the costs.
• You’re young and in good health, giving you the best chance to secure permanent life insurance for the lowest cost.

As adults get older, they generally start planning for the end of their life. Planning for end-of-life expenses in advance can help reduce the burden on your loved ones. If you’re already facing health issues or are a senior, traditional life insurance may not be the right fit.

Choosing a burial insurance plan can be a good alternative to regular life insurance coverage. As you shop for coverage, remember to consider your expected final expenses. This will help you determine how much coverage you need. It’s also recommended to get life insurance quotes from multiple providers to find the best combination of coverage and cost.

Our top three providers for the best burial insurance are:

• Mutual of Omaha for its instant online application and coverage.
• State Farm for its top-rated customer satisfaction.
• New York Life for its customizable whole life insurance options.

Our team researches and ranks life insurance companies using an in-depth scoring system that considers the factors most important to consumers like you. Our analysis includes a comprehensive review of each provider we feature based on available coverage, customizability, availability, customer service and company reputation. Here are the factors we take into consideration when rating life insurance providers:

• Brand trust (40%): Life insurance payouts can exceed $100,000 or more, which makes choosing a reputable and trustworthy installer important. To assess brand trust, we use J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction surveys, AM Best credit rating scores and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) complaint index. The higher a company scores in each area, the more points it receives.
• Coverage (33%): The more policy options a life insurance company offers, the more opportunities you have to obtain the right coverage for your specific needs. For this reason, we give companies the most points for offering multiple types of life insurance, including various term, permanent and no-exam options.
• Availability and ease of use (19%): Since life insurance coverage options can be complex, we consider the ways a customer can reach a company — and how easy communication is. For this category, we research how many communication channels a company offers for general customer support, claims processing and the application process. Companies earn the most points for offering various ways to interact with an agent, both in-person and online.
• Riders (8%): Companies offering various life insurance riders or endorsem*nts allow policyholders to better customize their coverage. In this category, we determine how many riders a company offers and award the most points to providers with more than 10 options.

AM Best Disclaimer