United American Insurance Company Review & Complaints: Life & Health Insurance (2023)

Texas-based United American Insurance writes a variety of life insurance and supplemental health insurance products with a main focus on the senior market. They operate throughout the United States as well as in Canada.

What is the history of United American?

United American Insurance Company was founded in 1947 in Dallas, Texas by C.L. Dunlap, and immediately began to grow. The creation of Medicare in 1966 saw the company shift its focus onto the senior insurance market, which is where it remains to this day.

In 1982 United American was acquired by insurance and financial services holding company Torchmark Corporation. They have since moved operations to McKinney, Texas, where parent company Torchmark also has its headquarters.

Today United American is licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia and operates in New York via a subsidiary, First United American Life Insurance Company. They are also licensed to operate in Canada. They offer life and supplemental health insurance policies for both groups and individuals.

United American products are sold through local independent agents.

What insurance products are offered?

United American writes life insurance and supplemental health products for individuals as well as group retiree health plan options. We have reviewed their Medicare Supplement plans separately, so this review will focus on other available products, about which there is an unfortunate lack of information.

Life Insurance

Although the company’s site describes both whole life insurance and term life insurance, the company only offers term life coverage. This is surprising given their focus on seniors as final expense life is a popular senior plan that is usually a whole life policy.

Death benefit amounts range from $25,000 to $500,000, but the site does not list term lengths or much other detail about the plans. Term life plans are renewable, but since the company does not appear to write whole life, they cannot be converted.

Accident Insurance

The site states that United American offers two different accident insurance plans, but there is no information on them. The site states only that they are guaranteed renewable and are portable, which is standard for an individual plan rather than a group plan.

Cancer and Critical Illness

Both cancer and critical illness lump sum insurance plans are available from United American.

The Cash Benefit Cancer Plan and HealthGuard critical illness plan both offer between $10,000 and $50,000 in coverage that is paid out upon diagnosis and can be used for any purpose. This includes paying medical bills, travel expenses, replacing lost income, and other costs.

Group Retiree Health

The company writes customizable group plans that provide supplemental health insurance coverage to retirees through the employer. These plans are designed to supplement Medicare and are selected by employers as part of a benefits package.

Coverage is available to a wide range of industries and can cover retirees as well as their spouses.

Are the company’s rates affordable?

There are no rates available online for the insurer. Quotes can be obtained by contacting a toll-free number to be put in touch with a local insurance agent.

This is pretty common for a company that focuses on basic life and supplemental health, although in this day and age we generally expect to at least see a quick online quote system for term life, a service many similar companies do offer.

How does the company process claims?

Claims can be filed by mail only, and the site offers an outline of which forms need to be submitted for each type of claim. While this information is useful, we did not see any place from which to download these forms – another modern convenience we expect from insurance companies – nor any instructions on where to get them.

There is a customer login area where forms may be available. This may be helpful for supplemental health plans but is less so for life insurance claims which are generally filed by a beneficiary who may not have login information.

While they do offer more claims information than some companies, we would very much like to see a modern update to their claims system.

Are the company’s ratings and consumer reviews positive?

Is United a good company? United American Insurance Company has an A+ rating with the Better Business Burea (BBB) and has been accredited since 1952. There is a total of eight complaints on file in the past three years. No reviews have been left on the page.

There are 97 reviews of this company on Consumer Affairs, with an overall one-star rating out of the 33 reviewers that left a star rating. Most of the complaints are in regards to denied claims or slow claims service. Many of the reviewers comment on long hold times and difficulty getting a representative on the phone.

While the number of complaints is not particularly high for a company of this size, the repeated common content does raise some concerns about customer service.

What’s the bottom line?

The company offers little policy information and no rate information, making it difficult to review their offerings effectively. There does appear to be some concern in regards to how the company is handling claims, although there are no major red flags. With a lot of options out there for this type of policy, insurance customers may want to look to a company with more transparency and a more modern approach.