Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. Review

Most people understand the importance of life insurance. They know how important it can be to provide for their loved ones if they were to pass away.

Unfortunately, not nearly as many people understand how important disability insurance can be and why they should consider a policy.

A Quick Background of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp.

One of the popular companies for disability insurance coverage is Ameritas. They are not the most well-known insurance company, but in the disability insurance field, they are one of the major players.

Before we look at their disability coverage, let’s take a look at the company itself.

If you want to go back to the beginning of the company, you have to look all the way back to 1887. Back then, there were no insurance companies in Lincoln, Nebraska.

There were five men in the community who saw an opportunity to create an insurance business and capitalize on the lack of competition. In April of 1887, those men created the Old Line Bankers Life Insurance Company of Nebraska.

Over a 100 years later, they have seen a lot of changes and have added a lot of products to their menu. They have everything from your standard life insurance plans, to dental and vision, and they can even help you plan your retirement.

They have insurance policies and investment options for every stage of life.

Their About Us page gives a lot of information on their focus as an agency, “At Ameritas, fulfilling life is what we do daily. We continuously strive to help our customers enjoy life at its very best by reducing uncertainty, helping grow assets and protecting what is most cherished.”

As a company, they have excellent ratings from all of the rating parties, meaning you can rely on their financial obligations based on their reputation, current standing, past performance, and projections.

From A.M. Best, they currently have an “A” rating, which is excellent. The company also touts an A+ from Standard and Poor’s. Ameritas has been accredited with the BBB since 1948, where they hold an A+ rating.

Both of these are very encouraging for any applicant looking to buy insurance, regardless of the kind it is.

Disability Insurance From Ameritas

Ameritas offers two separate types of disability insurance policies.

Both of them are good options for insurance coverage, but they are slightly different in the benefits they offer. The two plans are their DInamic Foundation Series and their DInamic Fundamental policy.

Let’s look at the DInamic Fundamental plan first.

Their DInamic policy is the more basic of the two options available. These policies are guaranteed renewable plan, as long as you want to have the plan, the company will give you the coverage. Every insurance company has different coverage limits, especially when it comes to disability insurance.

If you buy a DInamic Fundamental policy, then you can get a lump sum benefit for any disability which is going to last for a year. There is no elimination period with this plan, and you won’t have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get approved.

Ameritas offers a streamlined underwriting process, which makes it quick and easy to get disability coverage.

Their other plan, the DInamic Foundation Series policy is going to be slightly more involved. Just like the other policy, the plan is guaranteed renewable and noncancelable. The premium rates for the plan are guaranteed until the policyholder turns 65.

This plan will pay a monthly check for a disability from sickness or injury.

The plan will pay out for either partial disability or total disability. The company has specific circumstances and restrictions for this, and they may differ depending on your situation.

These policies are own occupation, not working policies, but you can get a true own-occupation coverage as an additional rider.

You can buy a different length of benefit periods to meet your needs, they come in 2 years, 5 years, or 10 years.

Additional Advantages of Ameritas

Not only do they give you affordable disability coverage, but there are some additional benefits you get as an Ameritas policyholder. In fact, there are several built-in features you won’t find with most other insurance companies out there.

One of those is the survivor benefit rider they add to their plans. If you were to pass away while you were claiming a payout from the policy, the company will pay three additional months to your beneficiary.

Another cool feature of their plans is their automatic increase feature. For the first five years you own the plan, Ameritas will increase the benefit coverage by 4%. You won’t have to pay additional premiums or go through underwriting to get the additional benefit.

Two other interesting features are their non-disabling injury and the presumptive total disability coverage. The non-disability insurance feature will reimburse the policyholder for some medical expenses for injuries which are not disabling.

The presumptive total disability will cut out the elimination period and pay full benefit if you were to ever lose sight, hearing, speech, or hands or feet.

Additional Riders

If their basic plans are not enough income protection for you, they have some additional riders you can attach to your plan.

One of the popular riders is a cost of living adjustment. This rider will increase the monthly benefit based on the Consumer Price Index, with a maximum of 3%.

The longer you have the plan, the higher the cost of living might be, which means when you file a claim, the money you receive may not go as far as you’d like.

On a similar note, you can also add future insurance option coverage. If your policy has this rider, you can increase the coverage amount every year (up to age 55), without having to go through the underwriting process again.

Why You Should Buy a Disability Insurance Policy

When most people think of disability insurance, they think of high-risk jobs, like a firefighter, but regardless of your occupation, accidents happen. If something were to happen, and you were to find yourself suffering from an injury and you could not go to work. If you don’t go to work, you’re not getting paid.

If you don’t get paid, will your family have the money they need to pay your bills or monthly expenses?

If you’re like most Americans, you don’t have nearly enough money saved to go without a paycheck for more than a month. You don’t know when you could be out of work with an injury or an illness, which is why disability insurance is vital.

Unlike life insurance, there are not thousands of companies who sell life insurance.

There aren’t many solid numbers are exactly how many companies sell disability insurance, but it looks like it’s less than 50. While 50 is nothing compared to the vast amount of life insurance companies, there are still a lot of differences in the number of companies out there.

Our Verdict on Ameritas Disability Insurance

If you’re looking for a stable insurance company which offers comprehensive insurance coverage, Ameritas is a good place to start your search. Their rates are on par with a lot of the other companies out there.

If you’re set on buying a plan through Ameritas, there are a couple of ways you can do that.

The first way, and the most obvious is to contact one of their agents. You can call them at 800-745-1112, or you can use their contact form on their website. Their customer service does a decent job at getting back to any requests.

The other way you can get disability insurance is to use a third-party tool, like PolicyGenius. The joy of using one of these is you don’t only get quotes from one company, like Ameritas, but you get dozens of quotes to match your disability needs.

You can customize your quotes based on the type of plan you want, the coverage limits, and the elimination periods. Using PolicyGenius can save you time and help you find the best disability insurance plan out there.

If your family relies on your monthly paycheck for their livelihood, you want to protect your income anyway possible. Instead of living in a bubble, disability can offer you the insurance you need.