Globe Life life insurance

Overview

Globe Life is a McKinney, Texas, insurance group known for its "$1 buys $100,000" direct offers and for selling large numbers of small life policies to lower-middle- and middle-income households. The Globe Life Inc. group ranked #19 among U.S. life insurance groups by 2024 individual life direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data, with about $2.63 billion in premiums and a 1.68% market share.

Globe Life Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GL. It sells under several brands, and which one issued your policy matters for service and claims:

• Globe Life And Accident Insurance Company sells direct to consumers by mail, online and phone, including adult and children's life and Medicare supplement coverage.
• American Income Life (Waco, Texas) sells life and supplemental health insurance to working families through about 11,920 average producing agents in 2025.
• Liberty National sells life and supplemental health insurance in homes and at worksites through about 3,846 agents.
• Family Heritage (Cleveland, Ohio) sells supplemental health coverage, and United American sells Medicare supplement plans through independent agents.

Agents of American Income Life, Liberty National and Family Heritage are independent contractors who sell only for Globe Life. The group had about 14.3 million life policies in force at the end of 2025 with an average face amount of about $16,200, far smaller than a typical agent-sold policy.

History

Globe Life traces its roots to Liberty National Life Insurance Company, incorporated in Huntsville, Alabama, on August 31, 1900. Globe Life And Accident Insurance Company was founded in 1951. Liberty National Holding, formed in 1979, acquired Globe Life And Accident in 1980 and United American in 1981, and renamed itself Torchmark Corporation in 1983. Torchmark acquired American Income Life in 1994 and Family Heritage in 2012. It changed its name to Globe Life Inc. in August 2019, and in 2021 it bought Beazley Benefits, now Globe Life Group Benefits.

In April 2024, two short sellers, Fuzzy Panda Research and Viceroy Research, published reports making allegations about the company, including what they called "wide-ranging insurance fraud," and the stock fell significantly. The events that followed, with their outcomes:

• Department of Justice: Globe Life and American Income Life had received subpoenas on November 30, 2023 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania about sales practices by certain independent agents selling American Income policies. On July 28, 2025, that office notified the company it had closed the investigation and would not take enforcement action.
• SEC: Globe Life disclosed an informal SEC inquiry about the short-seller allegations on May 21, 2024. On July 24, 2025, SEC staff told the company they had concluded the investigation and did not intend to recommend enforcement action.
• Internal review: On July 22, 2024, the board's audit committee, assisted by WilmerHale and FTI Consulting, reported that it found no matters requiring changes to past financial statements and no merit to the accounting and "insurance fraud" allegations.
• EEOC: In September 2024 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found reasonable cause to believe that agents affiliated with one American Income general agency were subjected to sex discrimination. Globe Life disputed the finding, including the EEOC's view that the agents were employees.
• Shareholder suits: A securities class action filed April 30, 2024 survived a motion to dismiss on September 29, 2025; a class certification motion filed May 15, 2026 was still being briefed as of the company's August 2026 quarterly report. Related shareholder derivative suits are pending.

Separately, Globe Life reported unauthorized access to a company web portal in June 2024 and, in October 2024, an extortion attempt involving data on about 5,000 American Income customers and leads.

Life insurance products

Through its direct channel, Globe Life sells term life up to $100,000 with no medical exam, a short application and coverage from the first day, and offers a first month for $1. Term policies can be started online, by mail or with an agent. It also sells simple whole life with premiums and coverage that never change, final expense whole life for funeral costs, accidental death coverage and mortgage protection insurance. Children's and grandchildren's whole life, up to $30,000 by mail, builds cash value and locks in rates for life. See mail-order and direct-response life insurance and should you buy life insurance for a child? for the trade-offs.

According to its 2025 annual report, about 71% of the group's life premium comes from traditional whole life and 22% from term, and it does not currently sell interest-sensitive whole life. Policies can include a waiver of premium benefit during disability and an accelerated death benefit for terminal illness. Agent-sold American Income and Liberty National policies are underwritten through interviews, application answers, pharmacy and motor vehicle records and sometimes medical records.

Other products

The group sells Medicare supplement plans through United American and Globe Life, and limited-benefit supplemental health insurance such as cancer, accident, critical illness, heart, intensive care and hospital coverage through Family Heritage, Liberty National and American Income. Globe Life Group Benefits sells worksite coverage. United American also includes Evry Health, a Dallas digital group health insurer for mid-size employers that Globe Life agreed to buy in October 2023. With its third-quarter 2026 results, released in October 2026, Globe Life lowered its full-year 2026 net operating income guidance to $15.35–$15.65 per diluted share from $15.55–$15.95, citing a roughly $16 million underwriting loss at Evry and about $7 million of excess Medicare supplement claims tied to a CMS processing delay. Those losses are in health coverage, not the life policies described above.

Buying and service

You can get a quote and apply online for some Globe Life policies, request information by mail, call 800-831-1200, or meet an American Income or Liberty National agent, often at home. Existing customers manage policies through each company's customer login, where they can pay premiums, change beneficiaries and update contact details. Customer service numbers differ by company: 844-726-4372 for Globe Life And Accident, 800-433-3405 for American Income Life, 800-333-0637 for Liberty National and 440-922-5222 for Family Heritage.

Claims

Beneficiaries file claims with the company that issued the policy; the Globe Life claims page lets you choose it. For Globe Life And Accident, file online or send a completed Proofs of Death claimant statement, a death certificate showing cause and manner of death and an obituary if available to Globe Life & Accident, Life Claims Division, PO Box 8076, McKinney, TX 75070, or fax 405-270-1496. A copy of the death certificate is accepted for benefits of $50,000 or less, and such claims on policies over two years old can be emailed to [email protected]. Accidental and homicide deaths require autopsy, toxicology, police and coroner reports.

Claims on policies in force more than two years are paid once documents are received and examined; younger policies are contestable and reviewed further (see the two-year contestability period). Globe Life says checks typically arrive within 10 to 15 business days after a claim is processed. Claim status: 800-654-5433, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central, weekdays. American Income claims go to PO Box 2500, Waco, TX 76702.

Ratings and reputation

AM Best rates Globe Life A (Excellent) as of November 2025, and the company says it has held A or higher from AM Best for more than 50 consecutive years. S&P Global rates it AA- (Very Strong) as of October 2025 and Fitch AA- as of September 2025. Globe Life ranked 11th of 23 brands in the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study, released in October 2026, with 656 points, above the study average of 649 (it ranked 9th in 2025).

The DOJ and SEC inquiries that followed the April 2024 short-seller reports both ended in July 2025 without enforcement action, but the shareholder class action remains open, as described above.

Who it suits

Globe Life suits people who want a modest amount of coverage quickly, without a medical exam, and are comfortable buying by mail, online or from a home-visit agent. It suits less well families who need several hundred thousand dollars of coverage, since direct-channel term tops out at $100,000, or who want to compare prices among many insurers.

• Strengths: Quick no-exam applications; coverage for children and adults sold directly; AA- ratings from S&P and Fitch; above-average J.D. Power score in 2026.
• Weaknesses: Small face amounts that cost more per $1,000 of coverage than larger underwritten policies; AM Best rating (A) a notch below many large insurers; DOJ and SEC inquiries in 2024 and 2025 (both closed without action) and a pending shareholder class action; data security incidents in 2024.

How to contact Globe Life