Brighthouse Financial is a life insurance and annuity agency that MetLife launched in 2017. MetLife, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with employee benefits. You need the assistance of a financial expert, such as an advisor, to buy insurance from Brighthouse Financial. Insurance is not available through the website.
Ranking of Complaints
Based on the volume of consumer complaints and market share, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) produces an insurance company complaint index. A complaint index of 1.00 reflects the average number of complaints received for a firm of that size.
In contrast, a complaint index of 1.00 indicates that the company is receiving fewer complaints than expected. For instance, if the index were 2.00, twice as many complaints would be seen as usual. 2 Brighthouse has an index of 0.30, suggesting it had fewer complaints than expected for a firm of its size throughout the three years between 2019 and 2021.
Expert Opinions
AM Best, a rating organization for insurers, examines the financial stability of more than 16,000 insurance providers worldwide, focusing on their future claims-paying capacity.
Best's scale for evaluating companies' financial stability ranges from A++ to D. 3 AM Best gave Brighthouse an A grade in December, meaning that the firm has excellent financial strength and claims-paying capabilities.
However, Brighthouse needs more client satisfaction compared to the best life insurers in the business. According to J.D. Power, which releases an annual customer satisfaction index, this is the case.
Policy Options
There are three different types of life insurance that you may get from Brighthouse, including term life, whole life, and indexed universal. The following is a breakdown of the various policy categories and the company's offerings.
Term Life
If the insured dies during the policy's term, which might be 20 years, in this case, the policy's beneficiaries will get a death benefit. Term life insurance plans, in contrast to permanent life insurance policies, often have no value beyond the death payout and no savings component.
Term life insurance plans from Brighthouse have coverage limits between $200,000 and $500,000 and do not need a medical exam. Customers must fill out a short application and hear back about their request within 24 hours.
A Whole Life (Term Conversions Only)
As long as the payments are paid, a whole life insurance policy will continue until the insured's death. Cash value is accumulated in the plan over time. The policyholder can borrow against it, receive dividends, or let the value grow on its own.
Existing policyholders are the only people who can get a Brighthouse whole-life policy, and that's just so they can do term conversions.
Hybrid Indexed Universal Life and Long-Term Care Insurance
The cash value component of an IUL policy allows it to be considered a perpetual life insurance policy. The cost of insurance and other fees and charges are subtracted from premium payments each month, while the remainder is credited to the policy's cash value.
Known as Brighthouse SmartCare, the universal life insurance policy offered by Brighthouse covers final expenses and nursing home costs in the event of the policyholder's death.
Riders Available
The term "rider" refers to an addendum or supplement to a policy that provides more or better coverage. You may have to pay more than the base rate for your policy if you tack on any riders.
Premium Rider Waiver
If the policyholder suffers a catastrophic illness, injury, or disability, the premiums may be waived under the terms of the waiver of the premium rider. Other age or health restrictions may apply to the policyholder based on the specifics of the rider.
Terminal Illness Rider: Accelerated Death Benefit (ADB).
The insured might get a portion of their death benefit while they are still alive, thanks to their life insurance policy's accelerated death benefit clause. The rider becomes active when a policyholder is diagnosed with a terminal disease and given a limited time to live.
Insurer's Discount: Long-Term Care Rider
Those who fear they may one day require help with basic daily tasks due to a sickness or accident are the target audience for the long-term care rider. Hospice care, home health care, nursing facility care, adult day care, and assisted living costs are also covered. As a part of its SmartCare insurance, Brighthouse provides a long-term care rider.
Methodology
We ranked over 90 insurers across five broad categories: financial soundness, customer happiness, product and feature diversity, overall buying experience, and pricing. We developed a methodology based on consumer objectives and life insurance firm fundamentals.
We used 55 different indicators and collected over 5,000 data points to do this. We examined insurers' results across various measures by classifying them into categories and scoring them accordingly.
