American Medical Association (AMA) Life Insurance Company Review

Buying life insurance is not only a smart financial decision but a reliable way to eliminate worries should the unexpected happen. For most, the purchase of life insurance is complex and daunting, so they either put it off or choose to buy what their neighbor or colleague has.

This brings me to review the American Medical Association (AMA) company. AMA insurance is focused on selling life insurance and other financial products for physicians. They have been serving physicians and their families for more than 30 years and claim to have physician-focused insurance plans.

If you have landed on this page, you are probably a physician who is looking to purchase life insurance through AMA.

This review will help you to decide whether AMA Life is a good choice. Let’s get this going!

American Medical Association History

AMA Insurance is a subsidiary of the American Medical Association (AMA), which is committed to helping physicians protect their families. They negotiate competitive rates from top-rated companies by leveraging the influence of more than one million physicians in their group. They have served physicians and their families for over 30 years by offering physicians-exclusive insurance coverage by understanding doctors’ lives.

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American Medical Association Company Ratings

AMA Insurance plans are underwritten by New York Life Insurance Company which has a financial strength of A++ (highest) according to A.M. Best.

Products Offered by AMA Life Insurance

AMA Life offers an array of financial products such as disability, Medicare, and life insurance. They also provide auto and home insurance, hospital income insurance, and group insurance for medical school.

In essence, they have a complete suite of products tailored for doctors in every stage of their career from medical school, residency, and even when you are retired. This review will touch on the life insurance products AMA sells.

Note: AMA sells only term life insurance products. They offer three term life insurance products which I will review below.

Level Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is the most straightforward product to understand. Term life provides coverage for a specific duration (also called term) and pays a death benefit to your chosen beneficiaries only if you die during that period. “Level” means that your rates will remain fixed for your preferred duration.

• Face amount: $100,000–$4,000,000
• Term’s duration: 10, 15, or 20 years
• AMA members receive an 8% rate reduction
• Issue ages: under 45

Optional Riders

Life insurance riders are extra add-ons to a policy to further customize the coverage. AMA Life provides the following riders:

• Living benefits up to 75 percent up to $1,000,000 maximum. This rider is offered at no additional cost
• Waiver of premium
• Issue ages: under 61
• Accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D)
• Child’s life insurance

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Pure Term Life Insurance

Pure Term Life is a life insurance policy that doesn’t require an applicant to go through an exam as part of the underwriting process. With this plan, the rates are age-based, which means every year, as you get older, the premium will increase, unlike a traditional term life in which your premiums remain fixed for your elected duration.

It’s sold as supplemental coverage to your employer’s coverage plan, because it’s portable. This is another marketing hype for buying an annual renewable term plan or ART.

• Face amount: $250,000, $500,000, or $1,000,000
• Renewable plan up to age 96
• No medical exam required; acceptance is based on your health questions and database
• Supplemental coverage
• Up to $500,000 or 50% in living benefits
• Optional waiver of premium rider

Preferred Term Life Insurance

This is another term life insurance variation which locks your premiums for five years. Again, it’s a glamorous name for a modified term life insurance.

For the first five years of coverage, your rate is based on your actual entry age. After the initial five-year period, your premium will increase based on your attained age at each subsequent five-year interval.

The worst part is that the death benefit amount stays in place until the age of 70, but after that, your benefit amount is reduced by 50%. Be very wary when buying this type of coverage because your premiums will vary every five years.

• Face amount: $25,000–$3,000,000
• Renewable plan up to age 75
• Issue ages: under 61

Premier Accident Insurance Coverage

Don’t confuse accidental insurance (AD&D) with a traditional life insurance policy. Accidental life insurance pays death benefit ONLY if you die as a result of an accident-related event.

If you died as a result of cancer, a stroke, or any natural causes, then your policy will not pay a dime. Typically, I don’t advise my clients to get this type of coverage unless they can’t get a traditional policy because of health issues. That said, it’s not a bad idea to have it as a supplement to your current life policy.

• Face amount: up to $1,000,000
• Full benefit amount will be reduced by 75% at the age of 70
• AMA members receive a 20% rate reduction

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AMA Life vs. Other Carriers’ Sample Monthly Rates

*All rates quoted on this page are for a super-preferred healthy individual who does not use tobacco. Monthly rates are updated as of Jan 2019 and are subject to underwriting approval.*

**AMA Life rates**

Bottom Line

If you are a physician or a student in medical school, you are already a busy person. Between taking care of patients and reading medical studies, the last thing you want to do is learn about life insurance. I get it!

This is why you shouldn’t buy life insurance blindly just because AMA provides a life insurance policy for your colleagues. Purchasing a life insurance policy from your medical association might seem like a good idea. “If my medical association recommends it, it must be good, right?” Think again.

Here is why:

• Even with your AMA member discount, there are more competitive options (see above).
• They only sell up to a 20-year term. What if you need 30 years or longer?
• What if you need universal or whole life coverage? AMA doesn’t sell this type of coverage.
• The no-exam policy they have will renew each year at a higher cost as you grow older. If you are looking for a true term life with no-exam which guarantees your premiums to remain fixed, this isn’t the right coverage for you.

Buying a life insurance policy should never be treated as a cookie cutter approach. It should be tailored to one’s individual needs and overall health condition.

Marketers have been doing this for years, trying to create some kind of relationship or association to ease your worries by creating a physician-group-sponsored plan or a particular plan for accountants or other professionals.

The reality is simple: if you are healthy, you will get the best life insurance rate. Your job is to find out who has it.

Luckily, you don’t have to work that hard, click the form on the right to display the best term life insurance rates from more than 50 top-rated companies.

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