Genworth life insurance

Overview

Genworth Financial is a Virginia insurance holding company that no longer sells life insurance or annuities. Its life insurance companies, Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company (GLAIC), Genworth Life Insurance Company and Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York, stopped selling new life insurance and fixed annuities in 2016 and variable annuities in 2011. They continue to collect premiums, pay claims and service existing term, universal and term universal life policies and annuities. The Genworth group ranked #33 among U.S. life insurance groups by 2024 individual life direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data, with $1.11 billion in premiums and a 0.71% market share. Those are renewal premiums on older policies, not new sales.

Genworth reports these legacy companies as its "Closed Block": a closed block of long-term care, life and annuity business that it manages to run off over time. The group's growth businesses are elsewhere: Enact Holdings, a publicly traded mortgage insurer about 81% owned by Genworth, and CareScout, which sells long-term care insurance through a new company and helps families find home care and senior living. Genworth Financial trades on the New York Stock Exchange (GNW).

If you own a Genworth policy, nothing about your contract changes because new sales ended: premiums, guarantees and death benefits remain as written, and Genworth services the policy directly.

History

GLAIC traces its charter to March 21, 1871, when Virginia chartered The Life Insurance Company of Virginia. An affiliate of General Electric acquired it on April 1, 1996, as GE built a life insurance business that also took in First Colony Life Insurance Company of Lynchburg, Virginia. The company became GE Life and Annuity Assurance and was renamed Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company on January 1, 2006. On January 1, 2007, First Colony Life and Federal Home Life merged into GLAIC, and American Mayflower Life Insurance Company of New York moved to Genworth's New York company. That is why many policies originally sold as First Colony, Life of Virginia or GE Life now carry the Genworth name, and why life claims are handled in Lynchburg (when your life insurance policy is sold to another company).

GE spun Genworth off in an initial public offering completed on May 28, 2004. Genworth became one of the largest sellers of term life, universal life and long-term care insurance. Losses on long-term care, where claims ran far above original pricing, and the financial crisis weakened the group. On February 4, 2016, Genworth suspended sales of traditional life insurance and fixed annuities. In October 2016 it agreed to be acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings for about $2.7 billion; after years of regulatory delays, Genworth terminated the deal on April 6, 2021, and in September 2021 sold a minority stake in its mortgage insurer, now Enact, to the public.

In October 2025 Genworth's new subsidiary CareScout Insurance Company launched an individual long-term care policy called Care Assurance, and on October 1, 2025 Genworth Life Insurance Company stopped selling long-term care insurance. The same month Genworth bought Seniorly, a senior living referral platform. Tom McInerney is president and CEO.

Life insurance products

Genworth does not sell any life insurance today, through agents, online or otherwise. Its legacy companies service in-force:

• Term life and term universal life with level premiums for periods such as 10 to 30 years, after which premiums can rise sharply (what happens when your term life policy expires).
• Universal and indexed universal life, where cost-of-insurance charges and credited rates affect how long the policy lasts (universal life insurance, universal life cost-of-insurance increases and what to do).
• Fixed, fixed indexed and variable annuities. Variable annuities issued before 2004 are reinsured to a GE affiliate, though Genworth remains directly liable to contract owners.

Genworth's direct life insurance in force fell to $321.2 billion at the end of 2025 from $397.3 billion two years earlier, according to its 2025 annual report, as policies expire, lapse or pay claims. For a term policy nearing the end of its level period, check your contract for any conversion option and its deadline, because Genworth has no current product line of its own to buy into.

Other products

Genworth's only new insurance sales are long-term care. CareScout Insurance's Care Assurance policy was available in 40 states as of February 20, 2026, with customizable coverage, inflation protection and access to the CareScout Quality Network of home care providers. Genworth Life Insurance Company still services the large block of older long-term care policies, many of which have had state-approved premium increases. Medicare supplement policies sold under the Genworth name are administered by Aetna.

Buying and service

You cannot buy a Genworth life policy. Existing owners can log in at genworth.com to change an address, update billing, set up automatic payments or make a payment without logging in. For policy questions, call life insurance service at 888-325-5433 (fax 888-325-3299), fixed annuities at 800-221-9501, immediate annuities at 888-322-4629 or variable annuities at 800-352-9910. The general line is 888-436-9678 (888-GENWORTH), Monday to Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern. Genworth will not accept transactions or confidential information by email.

Claims

To start a life insurance or annuity death claim, call Life and Annuity Claims at 888-325-5433 during the hours above. Be ready to give the decedent's full name, date of birth, Social Security number, place, date and cause of death, the policy or contract number if known, and your relationship and phone numbers. Genworth then sends a claim packet. Mail documents to Life and Annuity Claims Department, P.O. Box 10719, Lynchburg, VA 24506; the overnight address is 3100 Albert Lankford Drive, Lynchburg, VA 24501. Claim forms and FAQs are on genworth.com (how to file a life insurance claim).

Ratings and reputation

Genworth's life companies carry low financial strength ratings for the industry. On September 17, 2026, AM Best affirmed GLAIC at B- (Fair) and Genworth Life Insurance Company and Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York at C++ (Marginal), and revised the group's outlooks to stable from positive; a year earlier, in September 2025, it had moved the C++ companies' outlook to positive. AM Best has said capitalization at the long-term care company has improved but remains low and volatile, and that the group depends on long-term care premium increases and on dividends from Enact. These ratings do not stop claims being paid, but they are why state guaranty association limits matter to large policyholders (state life and health guaranty associations).

Genworth has faced repeated litigation over its long-term care block, including a Delaware class action (Burkhart) alleging that Genworth Life Insurance Company was left with inadequate reserves. Genworth was not ranked in the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study, which covers companies that sell new policies.

Who it suits

Genworth is not an option for buying life insurance. This profile is for people who already own a Genworth, First Colony, Life of Virginia, GE Life or American Mayflower policy, or are beneficiaries of one, and for people shopping CareScout long-term care coverage who want to understand the parent company.

• Strengths: Existing policies remain in force and are serviced directly by Genworth; a dedicated life and annuity claims line and published mailing addresses; a large, established administration operation in Lynchburg; AM Best moved the long-term care companies' outlook to positive in September 2025.
• Weaknesses: No new life insurance or annuities since 2016; B- (Fair) and C++ (Marginal) AM Best ratings; a shrinking closed block, so no new Genworth product to convert or upgrade into; a long record of long-term care premium increases and litigation.

How to contact Genworth