Ameritas Disability Insurance Review for 2024
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Kristen Gryglik
Licensed Insurance Agent
Kristen is a licensed insurance agent working in the greater Boston area. She has over 20 years of experience counseling individuals and businesses on which insurance policies best fit their needs and budgets. She knows everyone has their own unique needs and circumstances, and she is passionate about counseling others on which policy is right for them. Licensed in Massachusetts, New Hampshire,...
Licensed Insurance Agent
UPDATED: Dec 4, 2023
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right coverage choices.
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Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by insurance experts.
UPDATED: Dec 4, 2023
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right coverage choices.
Advertiser Disclosure: We strive to help you make confident insurance decisions. Comparison shopping should be easy. We are not affiliated with any one insurance provider and cannot guarantee quotes from any single provider.
Our insurance industry partnerships don’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own. To compare quotes from many different insurance companies please enter your ZIP code on this page to use the free quote tool. The more quotes you compare, the more chances to save.
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Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. is one of the largest mutual insurance companies in the United States. The company manages $32.6 billion worth of assets and serves over 4.2 million customers.
While Ameritas offers life, dental, and a wealth of other insurance options for individuals and businesses, we are going to focus on their disability policies.
Ameritas Disability Insurance Coverage Options
Ameritas offers two types of disability insurance policies to its consumers.
Both alternatives provide thorough coverage but have quite distinctive features.
The two options for consideration are the DInamic Foundation Series and the DInamic Fundamental policies.
The DInamic Fundamental Series
The simpler of the two, by far, is the DInamic Fundamental policy. The plan is designed to provide affordable care with a monthly premium based on the manual labor hours your job requires. Business owners can also purchase DInamic Fundamental on behalf of their employees.
The policy applicant must work at least thirty hours per week, and cannot have a high-risk or pre-existing medical condition if they want to qualify for cover. The application is relatively short, so the underwriting process is uncomplicated, too.
Policyholders can restructure or increase their plan as many times as they want because renewals are guaranteed.
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The DInamic Foundation Series
The second option is the DInamic Foundation Series policy, which aims to protect income-earning potential. With more features than DInamic Fundamental, policyholders can choose from a wide array of potential options, cherry-picking those most favorable to their needs.
These options include benefit and elimination periods, and how long they last.
Regardless of the types of benefits, you select in your policy package; this plan offers a couple of built-in features, including:
- Non-Disabling Injury—provides for reimbursement for medical expenses.
- Good Health Benefit—the initial elimination period is shortened by two days each year that you do not file a claim.
- Presumptive Total Disability—there is no elimination period included and the policy pays the full benefits, depending on the severity of the disability.
- Automatic Increase—there is a four percent increase in gains for the first five years of the policy’s duration.
- COBRA Premium Benefits—COBRA premiums get reimbursed if the disability causes the policyholder to lose their health insurance.
- Waiver of Premium—once a claim has been approved, there are no more premium payments required.
- Surgical Transplant—coverage for elective transplant surgery.
- Cosmetic Disability—provides benefits for disability as a result of elective cosmetic surgery.
- Survivor Benefit—advances the payouts to the policy beneficiaries if the policyholder dies.
The DInamic Foundation offers optional coverage choices, too.
These additional features can provide benefits to the riders of the policy. Availability depends on the state in which the policy was purchased, but the typical alternatives include:
- Enhanced Residual Disability/Basic Residual Disability—pays a benefit even if you can go back to work
- Cost of Living Adjustment—riders will increase their total monthly benefits after one full year of disability. This measure is to offset the effect of inflation. The increase can be around six percent compound interest or three percent simple interest.
- Social Insurance Substitute—this option reduces the monthly benefit if the individual is eligible for Social Security disability or Worker’s Compensation.
- Future Increase Option—lets the policyholders increase their coverage without any medical underwriting, up until the age of 55.
- Catastrophic Disability—kicks in as an additional monthly benefit if daily life is severely limited.
Rating of Ameritas
For nearly 150 years, Ameritas has been a cornerstone of the American insurance industry. Their plans are simple, affordable, and easy to understand. While Ameritas does offer policy options to individuals and businesses, their primary programs seek to cover groups of working professionals.
In June of 2019, Consumers Advocate did a comprehensive analysis of insurance providers. Ameritas scored the second-highest rating at 7.7 stars of 10, only falling behind The Standard.
The rating accounts for four factors: policies and coverage, flexibility, financial strength, and reputation/customer experience.
The policies and coverage received a 9.0 out of 10 for their ability to complement existing long-term disability plans. The other three factors earned the highest marks possible.
Note that Ameritas does not offer optional riders that policyholders can use to customize their coverage, which means they aren’t as flexible as some of their competitors.
Customer Satisfaction
Ameritas has been an accredited institution from the Better Business Bureau since its inception in 1948. The purpose of the BBB accreditation is to provide consumers and companies with a means of building trust, through honesty and transparency. The BBB also gave Ameritas an A+ rating, which is the highest possible score.
There are three customer reviews of Ameritas on the BBB website. The average star rating is 2.25. Based on the BBB rating and accreditation, the organization is wholly satisfied with how Ameritas has resolved its existing customer complaints.
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Ameritas Disability Insurance Cost
The price you pay depends on which plan you select and what features you choose to include in the offering.
According to the Ameritas website, the cost of the DInamic Fundamental “is comparable to other household bills, such as internet service, cable TV, etc.”
Because the DInamic Foundation Series is more comprehensive and offers a greater variety of benefits, it is also more expensive.
Here is an example of the benefits of the DInamic Foundation Series. If you suffer an injury that does not disable you but still needs medical or dental treatment, Ameritas will step in to cover the costs. They will pay up to $3,000 per injury for one-half of the base benefit period.
Ameritas Financial Strength
A.M. Best: Considered one of the dependable insurance rating agencies. They put Ameritas in the financial category XIV ($1.5-2 billion) and doled out a rating of A. This mark is synonymous with “excellent,” and is the third-highest possible score that A.M. Best gives.
Ameritas also earned an A+ rating for its long-term financial health. Therefore, customers can expect continued and stable services from Ameritas for years to come. Similarly, Ameritas is considered amongst the best insurance providers in the United States based on these ratings.
- Moody’s: One of the “Big Three” credit-rating agencies along with Fitch, and Standard and Poor’s. While Ameritas holds an A rating with all the big agencies, the Moody’s score was withdrawn. Ameritas remains a stable company with a solid financial track record.
- Standard and Poor’s : Another credit rating giant, Standard and Poor’s gave Ameritas an A+ for its financial strength. The rating is the fifth-highest mark possible of the 21 that Standard and Poor’s gives. A score of an A+ is equivalent to “strong” when it comes to Ameritas’ finances.
- Comdex: Comdex combines the ratings of the major agencies for one easy to use number. Their score, which goes from 1 to 100, incorporates the totals from A.M. Best, Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch. Ameritas received a Comdex ranking of 82
Ameritas Disability Insurance is it for You?
Ameritas is a mutual organization with a proven track record of financial strength and comprehensive coverage.
They are an established name within the insurance industry, offering various disability insurance policies to customers.
Enter your ZIP code below to view companies that have cheap insurance rates.
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Kristen Gryglik
Licensed Insurance Agent
Kristen is a licensed insurance agent working in the greater Boston area. She has over 20 years of experience counseling individuals and businesses on which insurance policies best fit their needs and budgets. She knows everyone has their own unique needs and circumstances, and she is passionate about counseling others on which policy is right for them. Licensed in Massachusetts, New Hampshire,...
Licensed Insurance Agent
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by insurance experts.