If you’re researching “Bestow life insurance” today, the first thing to know is that Bestow Inc. doesn’t sell life insurance anymore. This review explains what changed, what it means if you already hold a Bestow policy, and how the no-exam term product worked while Bestow sold it directly — which is still useful context if you’re comparing it against carriers that offer something similar now.
Disclaimer: This article is educational and intended to help you compare options independently. It is not personalized insurance advice. Consult a licensed agent for guidance specific to your situation.
Correction, October 6, 2026. Earlier versions of this page described Bestow in the present tense as an active seller of direct-to-consumer term life insurance, including a monthly starting-price figure we could not source. Bestow sold its life insurance carrier to Sammons Financial Group in 2024. We rewrote this page using Bestow’s own site and trade-press coverage of the sale, and removed the unsourced price.
What Happened to Bestow Life Insurance
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| May 2024 | Bestow announces it will sell Bestow Life Insurance Company to Sammons Financial Group, pending a regulatory hearing in Iowa scheduled for May 28, 2024 | Insurance-Edge |
| 2024 | The sale closes. Sammons Financial Group renames the carrier Lantern Insurance Company | Bestow, Sammons Financial Group |
| Today | Bestow Inc. no longer underwrites or sells life insurance. It describes itself as a life insurance SaaS platform, selling application, underwriting and policy-administration software to other carriers | Bestow FAQ |
Founded in 2017, Bestow spent its first several years as a direct-to-consumer carrier before this 2024 sale split the business in two: Lantern now holds the policies, and Bestow Inc. sells the technology that runs them.
If You Already Have a Bestow Policy
Bestow’s own site confirms existing coverage is unaffected: “Your policy remains in force, and you can access your account” through the original Bestow customer portal (bestow.com/lantern). Claims and ongoing servicing now run through Lantern Insurance Company rather than Bestow.
Whether Lantern is currently open to new applicants is murkier than Bestow’s own site says outright. Lantern’s site (lanterninsurance.com) still shows “Apply now” and “Get a Quote” prompts for term life insurance, but several independent review sites report that new applications are closed and the site now only services existing Bestow/Lantern policies. We couldn’t resolve that conflict from a primary source and didn’t attempt to apply ourselves — check lanterninsurance.com directly rather than assuming either way.
How the Bestow Product Worked (Before the 2024 Sale)
This is useful if you’re comparing a current no-exam term product against what Bestow used to offer — not a description of what you can buy today.
Bestow sold term life insurance in 5-year increments. Coverage ranged from $50,000 to $1,500,000, and applicants had to be between 18 and 60 years old.
A few age-based limits applied to longer terms:
- 55 was the maximum age for a 15-year term.
- 50 was the maximum age for a 20-year term.
- 45 was the maximum age for a 25-year term.
- 40 was the maximum age for a 30-year term.
- Separate age limits applied for tobacco users.
Maximum age to apply for each Bestow term length
The application was entirely online. Bestow’s mobile-friendly site calculated policy options based on your answers and could issue a decision within minutes — no medical exam, no agent meeting.
What Bestow Did Well
- Fast and convenient. A streamlined online form replaced paperwork and agent meetings; you answered health and lifestyle questions instead of taking an exam.
- Same-day coverage. An approved application could go into force the same day.
- Algorithm-based pricing. No commission-based sales — prices were calculated consistently from your profile rather than negotiated with an agent.
- 30-day money-back guarantee, double the industry-standard 10-day free-look period.
- Chatbot plus licensed advisors reachable by phone, email, or chat.
- No standalone app, but a mobile-friendly site that handled application and account management.
Where It Fell Short
- No riders. Add-ons like an accidental death benefit, waiver of premium, or child life rider weren’t available.
- Term only. No whole life, universal life, or conversion to permanent coverage — when the term ended, coverage ended.
- $1.5 million coverage cap — a ceiling for high-income earners or anyone with significant estate-planning needs.
- Algorithmic denial risk. Pricing and eligibility were driven by an algorithm evaluating age, weight, occupation, health history, lifestyle and public records; high-risk profiles could see higher premiums or denial without ever speaking to an underwriter.
We previously stated a specific starting monthly price here; we’ve removed it because we could not find it in a primary Bestow source and can no longer verify it against a product that isn’t for sale.
Financial Strength and Underwriting (as it worked pre-2024)
While Bestow operated the product, its policies were underwritten by North American Company for Life and Health Insurance, which A.M. Best rated A+ (“Superior”) at the time — a signal of claims-paying ability, not a Nerd Score. North American also reinsured the business, and like nearly all life policies, Bestow’s carried a standard two-year contestability period. We haven’t verified whether Lantern Insurance Company, as the current policy issuer, carries the same underwriter or rating — check AM Best’s ratings lookup directly if that matters to you.
Bottom Line
The no-exam, fully-online term product this page used to recommend isn’t Bestow’s to sell anymore — Lantern Insurance Company holds the policies now, and we couldn’t confirm whether it’s taking new applicants. If you already hold a Bestow policy, it remains in force and is serviced through Lantern; if you’re shopping for new no-exam term coverage, compare current carriers directly rather than assuming Bestow is still an option.