With over 800 life insurance companies in the market, finding the right group term life plan for your small business can feel overwhelming. It’s not always clear which providers offer the best coverage, value, and service. Even if you gather quotes from top-rated carriers, how can you be sure you’re getting the right policy—at the right price—for your team?
That’s where we come in. At HealthPlansNY, we cut through the noise by comparing multiple top-rated carriers for you—so you can make a confident, informed choice without wasting time or money.
Get Matched with the Right Group Life Insurance Carrier—Without the Guesswork
At HealthPlansNY, we work with dozens of top-rated life insurance companies so you don’t have to settle for a one-size-fits-all plan. Whether you’re a small business with 5 employees or a growing team of 50+, we compare trusted carriers to help you find the best group term life insurance based on your needs, your budget, and your team.
Below are 10 of the top group life insurance companies we trust—each chosen for their financial strength, flexibility, and service to New York businesses.
Who Are The Best NY Group Life Insurance Companies?
Our list of best group term life insurance companies can change at any given time depending on which companies are currently offering the best products and pricing. Click the links below to jump to the companies that offer the best group term life insurance rates:
MetLife
New York Life
Prudential
Nationwide
Securian
Hartford
Unum
Lincoln Financial
Standard
Guardian
Did You Know?
📊 49% of U.S. households would face financial hardship within six months of a primary wage earner’s death
— Source: LIMRA, Life Insurance Marketing & Research Association
📉 Most employees spend more time choosing a Netflix show than selecting their workplace benefits
— Source: MetLife Employee Benefits Survey
💡 But just a few dollars per month can provide vital life insurance protection for their loved ones
What is Group Term Life Insurance?
Group term life insurance is a benefit offered by employers to help employees have easy access to life insurance coverage. It is a single contract or policy that covers an entire group of employees and is often provided in addition to other group benefits such as group health insurance, dental insurance and disability insurance.
Group life is normally offered to the employee free of charge and a standard maximum death benefit of 1X salary or up to $50,000 of death benefit. Policies are offered on a guaranteed issue basis, meaning no medical exam is required from any of the employees who will be insured.
How Does Group Term Life Insurance Work?
Term life insurance is the most common form of group life insurance however, some employers do offer group whole life or group universal life programs as well. Term insurance is temporary coverage and eventually expires when the term is over. In a business situation, group life covers an employee up to age 65, then the death benefit decreases each year up to age 70.
Group Life Insurance: What Employers Should Know
Most insurance carriers won’t offer group life coverage to employees over age 70. Why? Because group policies typically don’t require medical exams or background checks, and insuring older individuals without health screening poses a higher risk for insurers.
As an employer, if you’re offering $50,000 in basic life insurance at no cost to your employees, you can expect to pay between $0.026 and $0.055 per $1,000 of coverage per month. Final rates depend on factors like your industry, number of employees, their ages, and gender mix.
If employees want more than the basic $50,000 in coverage, you can offer voluntary or supplemental group life insurance. This lets them purchase additional coverage at their own expense. Depending on the carrier and the amount requested, they may need to complete a short health questionnaire or undergo a medical exam.
Is Group Life Insurance Taxable?
According to the IRS; IRC section 79 provides an exclusion for the first $50,000 of group-term life provided under a policy carried directly or indirectly by an employer. There are no tax consequences if the total amount of such policies does not exceed $50,000. The imputed cost of coverage in excess of $50,000 must be included in income. Using the IRS Premium Table, excess coverage amounts are subject to social security and Medicare taxes.
Should You Offer A Group Life Insurance Program?
Fact: Group life insurance covers over 45% of the U.S. population
— Source: LIMRA (Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association)
For many employees, a group policy through work is the only life insurance they have—making it a crucial benefit.
What Employees Want Most in a Benefits Package:
✅ Health insurance
✅ Retirement savings plan
✅ Life insurance (often overlooked but highly valued)
Why Employers Offer Group Life Coverage:
📈 Attract and retain top talent in a competitive hiring market
💰 Provide meaningful financial protection at a low cost
🤝 Show employees you care about their long-term security
How We Rate The Top Group Life Insurance Companies
Customer Service: Many business owners are too busy running their business and don’t have time to deal with servicing or billing problems. Insurance companies that do not provide excellent customer service did not make the list.
Financial Ratings: The financial strength of an insurance company should always be considered when looking for any type of insurance. It’s important that the company will be able to pay claims and be in business for the long term. The rating agencies we follow are:
A.M. Best: Provides objective opinion regarding an insurer’s, issuer’s, or financial obligation’s relative creditworthiness. Their top rating is A++ – Superior
Standard and Poors (S&P): Measures the credit quality of an insurer and the ability to meet their financial obligations. Top rating is AAA – Extremely Strong
Moodys: Provides opinion of future creditworthiness of an insurers ability to pay claims in relation to the investments and current book of business. Top rating is Aaa – Highest
Fitch: Fitch credit ratings provide an opinion on the relative ability of a company to meet their financial commitments, such as interest, repayment of principal, and insurance claims. Fitch’s’ highest rating is AAA – Exceptionally Strong
Competitive Pricing: While financial stability is essential, competitive pricing is just as important. You don’t want to pay more to one company when another company is offering the same coverage at a lower price.
The Best NY Group Term Life Insurance Providers
MetLife
MetLife is a leader in the group benefits field. They are one of oldest and largest life insurance companies in the world and holds a 23.1% total market share of all group life insurance policies in force. They specialize in the large group marketplace for companies with more than 100 employees.
The company provides group insurance options to smaller businesses as well, but you must have at least 5 employees to qualify for their group life plan. Their policy pricing is competitive but it is not the lowest.
MetLife offers basic group term life and group basic group whole life. Additional coverage includes: supplemental life, dependent life, Voluntary Retiree Life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D). MetLife makes our list for financial strength and a vast array of group life options.
MetLife Financial Ratings:
A.M Best rating – A+
Moody’s rating – Aa3
Fitch rating – AA-
S&P rating – AA-
New York Life
New York Life is America’s largest mutual insurance company and shot up to #2 on our best group term life insurance companies last year when they acquired Cigna’s group life, accident and disability insurance business.
The company is also the 3rd largest insurance company by revenue and is over 175 years old. New York Life holds 9.4% of the group term life market and provides group benefits to mostly large employers with over 500 employees.
New York Life offers term life and universal life through their Group Benefit Solutions division (NYL GBS). Their financial ratings are among the highest in the industry:
A.M. Best – A++
Moody’s – Aaa
Fitch – AAA
Standard & Poor’s – AA+
Prudential
Prudential is one of the best-known insurance companies in the world (The Rock). The company has a 9.3% market share of the group life insurance field making them number 3. Founded in 1875 it has over 100 years experience in the group marketplace and insures more than 20 million people.
Prudential offers basic employer-paid and employee paid term Life, whole and universal life as well as:
Spousal and Dependent Term Life
Waiver of Premium
Conversion to permanent insurance
Accelerated Death Benefit
With very high financial ratings and very competitive pricing, Prudential is one of the best group life insurance companies in the business.
Prudential Insurance Financial Ratings:
A.M Best– A+
Moody’s – A1
Fitch– A+
S&P– AA-
Nationwide
Nationwide is mostly known for being a leader in the auto and home insurance market. However, over the last 90 years they have grown to one of the largest insurance and financial service companies in the world. The company comes in 4th place of our best group term life insurance companies with a market share of 7.1%
Nationwide offers an array of group benefits including term life, universal life, whole life and variable life as well as business insurance policies. They work with companies of all sizes and serve more than 500,000 small businesses across the Nation.
Financial Strength Ratings for Nationwide
A.M. Best – (A+)
Moody’s -(A1)
Standard & Poor’s – (A+)
Securian
Securian is the 9th largest insurance company in America and moved down to position 5 with 6.8% of the best group term life insurance companies. The company is owned by Minnesota Life and headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota. Securian has been providing group benefit solutions since 1917. They offer group term life and group universal life to employers with over 1000 employees.
Group Life Product features include:
Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D)
Guaranteed Coverage
Waiver of Premium during a disability
Dependent Coverage
Portable Life Insurance if you leave your employer
Conversion to permanent life such as whole life and guaranteed universal life (GUL)
Financial Strength Ratings for Securian
A.M. Best – (A+)
Moody’s -(A3)
Fitch – (AA)
Standard & Poor’s – (AA-)
Hartford
The Hartford Life Insurance Company is part of The Hartford Financial Services Group, which was established in 1810. The company comes is number 5 with a market share of 5.2%. Hartford is one of the world’s largest insurance and investment companies and has been providing group benefits for more than 60 years and protects the lives of over 12 million people. They offer a full line of flexible group life options but most notably they are probably one of the most competitive when it comes to pricing.
Hartford’s Financial Ratings:
A.M Best – A-
Moody’s – Baa2
S&P – BBB+
UNUM
The company was founded in 1848 under the name of Union National. Throughout it’s history, there would be many mergers and acquisitions of prominent insurance companies, such as; Paul Revere life insurance company, Provident insurance and Colonial Life. In 1924, the company became the first in the industry to offer group life insurance and in 1986, Union National became Unum, the name we are most familiar with today.
Unum is a major player in the arena of group benefits and offers many types of insurance coverage to employers such as; Critical illness, Accident & Hospital indemnity, Dental, Vision, disability, Long term care and group life insurance.
Group term insurance and group whole life insurance are available in Unum’s group life program. The company has a total market share of 4.4% of group life insurance policies inforce.
Unum’s Plan features include:
- Spouse and family coverage
- A “living benefit” if a covered individual is diagnosed with a terminal illness
- Accidental death & dismemberment
- Long term care coverage
- A waiver of premium benefit
- Guaranteed issue amount for basic coverage with no health questions or physical exams.
Unum Life Insurance Financial Ratings
Standard & Poor’s – A
Fitch – A
A.M. Best – A
Moody’s – A2
Lincoln Financial
Lincoln Financial was founded in 1905 and the company specializes in financial services, individual insurance and is one of the top providers of group life insurance in the industry. The company holds a 3.9% total market share of the group life insurance industry. They are not the largest provider but they are a very solid financial insurance company.
Lincoln Financial offers a wide range of group life benefits and their pricing is very competitive. Some notable options of their program are:
Waiver of Premium
Accelerated Death Benefit
Portability lets employees keep their coverage, even if they leave their company.
Conversion privilege to permanent insurance without Evidence of Insurability (EOI).
Lincoln Financials’ Ratings:
A.M Best – A+
Moody’s – A1
S&P – AA-
Fitch – A+
Standard
Standard Life, is headquartered in Utah. The company is now part of the Country’s largest insurance companies – Manhattan Life. and holds a 2.8% share of group life insurance policies. Along with providing life insurance, the company offers a full array of additional benefits such as disability, dental, vision, accidental life and dismemberment and retirement services.
Here are the key features of a Standard life insurance policy:
- Flexible plans to fit business need
- Benefits during a terminal illness — employees can apply to receive a portion of Life insurance funds early
- Portable coverage — employees who qualify can buy coverage from The Standard if they leave their jobs
- Help if totally disabled — employees may qualify for a waiver of Life insurance premium for a specific time period
- AD&D benefits for families — if an employee dies due to a covered accident, family members may be eligible for Higher Education, Child Care or Career Adjustment benefits
The Standard’s Financial Ratings:
S&P – A+
Moody’s – A1
A.M. Best – A
Guardian
Guardian is mutual company which was founded in 1860. The company is located in New York City and is a new comer to the largest group term insurance companies with 1.9% market share. Guardian is one of the highest financially rated companies in the industry. They also provide individual life insurance. Investment management, disability, and retirement planning.
Guardian’s Financial Ratings
A.M. Best – A++
S&P – AA+
Moodys – AA1
Finally, Group Life Insurance That Works for You
If you’re like most business owners in New York, you:
- Want to offer great benefits—but not break the bank
- Are tired of one-size-fits-all insurance options
- Need help navigating complex coverage rules
- Don’t have time to chase down agents who don’t call back
That’s where we come in…
Here’s What You Get with HealthPlansNY
✅ Customized Group Life Plans – Tailored to your team size, budget, and industry
✅ Expert Local Guidance – We’ve helped 500+ NY businesses just like yours
✅ Clear, Straightforward Advice – No jargon. No sales pressure. Just real answers
✅ Fast Quotes – Compare top carriers in minutes, not days
Here’s How It Works
Schedule a Call – Tell us what your team needs
Review Your Options – We’ll send customized group life quotes
Choose with Confidence – Get the best plan at the best price
No pressure. No hidden fees. Just honest help.
Ready to Explore Your Options?
👉 Request a Free Quote
👉 Talk to a NY Group Life Specialist
Or call us at (914) 633-1717 to speak with a licensed advisor today.
Trusted by New York Businesses Since 2005
Market share data provided by Insurance Information Institute.
