Brighthouse Financial life insurance review: Fast & affordable
Brighthouse Financial is one of our highest-rated life insurance companies thanks to its affordable rates, quick application, and no-medical-exam options.
By
Adam MorganAdam MorganEditorial DirectorAdam Morgan is an editorial director at Policygenius who leads the life insurance team. Previously, he led editorial teams matrixed across multiple financial publications at Red Ventures — including Bankrate, NextAdvisor, Million Mile Secrets, and others. As a journalist, his work has appeared in Esquire, Scientific American, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere.
Our proprietary ratings methodology takes multiple factors into account, including customer satisfaction, cost, financial strength, and policy offerings. See the “Ratings methodology” section for more details.
5.0
AM Best rating
AM Best is a global credit rating agency that scores the financial strength of insurance companies on a scale from A++ (Superior) to D (Poor).
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Cost
Using a mix of internal and external rate data, we grade the cost of each insurance company's premiums on a scale from least expensive ($) to most expensive ($$$$$).
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Policygenius awards
Best no-medical exam life insurance 2023
Best life insurance for young adults 2023
The bottom line
Brighthouse Financial is an excellent choice for term life insurance and universal life insurance with long-term care. It also offers some of the most affordable rates on the market.
Pros
Extremely affordable
Instant-decision applications
Best-in-class no-exam option
Cons
Traditional term life not available in CA, IL, LA, ME, or NY
Term life applicants limited to ages 25-50
Basic coverages offered
No-medical-exam term life insurance: Brighthouse SimplySelect® is a traditional term life insurance policy available exclusively through Policygenius. It's available for anywhere between $100,000 and $3 million in coverage, with a term length of 10, 20, or 30 years.
Whole life insurance: Brighthouse Conversion Whole Life is a whole life insurance policy you can convert your SimplySelect policy into (for a significantly more expensive premium). (Note: This product is not available through Policygenius.)
Short-term life insurance: Brighthouse One Year Term is a short-term life insurance policy with stricter application parameters that can be extended (with a policy rider) up to five years. It can also be converted to a whole life policy at the end of the one-year term. (Note: This product isn't available through the Policygenius marketplace.)
Acceleration of death benefit rider: This common rider lets you access a portion of your policy’s death benefit if you’re certified as terminally ill with a life expectancy of less than 12 or 24 months, depending on your state’s laws.
Convertible and renewable options rider: This conversion rider lets you either extend a One Year Term policy to 5 years, or, convert it to a Brighthouse Conversion Whole Life policy after the first year.
Long term care acceleration of death benefit rider (LTC ADBR): An acceleration of death rider for SmartCare policies.
Extension of benefits rider (EOBR): For SmartCare policies, this rider provides additional benefit payments for either two or four years after LTC ADBR benefit payments end.
Ratings methodology
Price
5.0/5
Our price rating scale looks at the average cost of life insurance for a sample 20-year term policy with a $1 million coverage for a 35-year-old female non-smoker with a Standard Plus (or Standard if no Standard Plus is available) risk classification, the rating an insurance company gives you that determines your rates. The quote we got from Brighthouse Financial puts it in the least expensive category for our rating system.
Customer experience
4.9/5
Brighthouse Financial also scored very high on our customer experience scale. According to the latest data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) complaint index, Brighthouse Financial has one of the lowest levels of consumer complaints in the entire life insurance industry, with an index rating of just 0.34. Since the industry average is 1.00, this means Brighthouse Financial receives 60% fewer complaints than the average life insurance company — a great sign that you can expect stellar customer service.
Transparency
5.0/5
Our transparency rating scale measures how easily shoppers and policyholders can find information about an insurer on its website. Brighthouse Financial scored points for providing a policy information on its website, including term length It also displays the company’s financial strength ratings with A.M. Best, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch. It also offers plenty of ways to contact insurance experts for support via phone, email, online support center, or — for its term life insurance policies offered exclusively through Policygenius — live chat.
Financial strength
3.9/5
Our financial strength rating is a weighted combination of three industry-leading metrics to measure a company’s financial health: A.M. Best, Standard & Poor’s, and Moody’s. Brighthouse Financial scores well on all three scales, with an A, A+, and A3, respectively. Even though the company is technically less than a decade old, the fact that it’s a 2017 spinoff of MetLife’s individual life insurance business lends it an additional 150 years of history, leadership, and resilience.
A closer look at Brighthouse Financial
Who is Brighthouse Financial best for?
If you’re looking for term life insurance with affordable rates and a fast and easy application process, Brighthouse Financial is an excellent pick. It offers very affordable premiums and a convenient no-medical-exam option for people between the ages of 25 and 50 who don't smoke. It’s also great if you’re interested in combining your life insurance policy with long-term care.
What makes Brighthouse Financial unique?
Many life insurance companies require a medical exam as part of the application process, but Brighthouse Financial is one of the few that lets many people skip the medical exam. In fact, Brighthouse Financial is our pick for the best overall no-medical-exam life insurance. And as noted above, it offers some of the most affordable rates on the market.
Who should consider a different life insurance company?
If you live in New York, California, Illinois, Louisiana, or Maine, you won’t be able to purchase Brighthouse SimplySelect®. If you’re looking for whole life insurance, Brighthouse Financial only offers it as a conversion option for their term life policies. And if you need more than $3 million in coverage, see our picks for the best life insurance companies for high-net-worth individuals.
Expert opinions on Brighthouse Financial
"Brighthouse is a great option for people looking to get a policy approved quickly. Though they're more selective with who they'll approve than some other carriers, they offer the ability to get instantly approved after completing one simple telephone interview." —Jake Herskovits, licensed life insurance specialist at Policygenius
Brighthouse Financial life insurance rates
The chart below shows average monthly premium prices for a 20-year term life insurance policy with $500,000 in coverage for non-smokers in a Preferred health classification; quotes are based on the Policygenius Life Insurance Price Index methodology.
Age / Sex
Brighthouse Financial average
Industry average
25-year-old female
$19.19
$21.08
25-year-old male
$24.32
$26.90
35-year-old female
$22.70
$25.58
35-year-old male
$26.45
$30.34
45-year-old female
$43.77
$47.86
45-year-old male
$56.30
$60.76
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Brighthouse Financial’s history, reputation, and social responsibility
In 2017, MetLife spun off its U.S. retail division — the part of the company that sold life insurance to individual Americans. As a result, many of the spinoff’s senior leaders are former MetLife employees, including President and CEO Eric T. Steigerwalt. These leaders named the new company Brighthouse Financial as a nod to its guiding principles of “simplicity and transparency.” [1]
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Brighthouse Financial became a Fortune 500 company in 2019, and is one of the largest life insurance companies in the U.S., with more than 1,500 employees and 2 million customers. [2]
Judging from its inaugural corporate sustainability report, Brighthouse Financial is clearly dedicated to making a large Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) impact in the future. In 2020, it established an Office of Sustainability, and named David Ward its Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO).
In 2021, Brighthouse Financial adopted a new ESG investment policy, began excluding “certain issuers and industries” from its portfolio that were inconsistent with sustainability efforts (including fossil fuel exposure), and launched a $100 million investment target toward “women and minority-focused alternative investment funds over the next three years.” [3]
Brighthouse Financial in the news
In August 2022, Brighthouse Financial released its first corporate sustainability report, including the “creation of an internal, cross-functional climate risk working group.” (Brighthouse Financial)
In June 2020, Brighthouse Financial launched SimplySelect®, a no-medical-exam term life insurance policy offered exclusively through Policygenius. (Coverager)
In July 2016, MetLife rebranded its U.S. life insurance and annuity retail business to Brighthouse Financial — a name meant to reflect its “guiding principles of simplicity and transparency” — before spinning it off into a separate company. (Bloomberg)
Brighthouse Financial is one of the largest life insurance and annuity companies in the U.S., headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, with more than 1,500 employees and 2 million customers.
Who owns Brighthouse Financial?
Ever since its initial public offering (IPO) in August 2017, Brighthouse Financial has been an independent, publicly traded company owned by shareholders and governed by a board of directors. Previously, it was MetLife’s U.S. retail division.
What is the difference between MetLife and Brighthouse Financial?
Brighthouse Financial is a 2017 spinoff of MetLife’s U.S. retail division, which sells life insurance to individual Americans. Today, the two companies are completely separate entities, with MetLife based in New York and Brighthouse Financial based in Charlotte, NC.
How do I contact Brighthouse Financial?
To contact Brighthouse Financial, including the claims support team, call 800-882-1292 or visit the Brighthouse Financial website.
References
Policygenius uses external sources, including government data, industry studies, and reputable news organizations to supplement proprietary marketplace data and internal expertise. Learn more about how we use and vet external sources as part of oureditorial standards.
Adam Morgan is an editorial director at Policygenius who leads the life insurance team. Previously, he led editorial teams matrixed across multiple financial publications at Red Ventures — including Bankrate, NextAdvisor, Million Mile Secrets, and others. As a journalist, his work has appeared in Esquire, Scientific American, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere.
