Unum life insurance

Overview

Unum Group is one of the largest U.S. providers of workplace benefits: group life, disability, accident, critical illness, dental and vision coverage that employers offer to their employees. Most people who have Unum or Colonial Life coverage got it through a job, not from an agent or website. The Unum Group ranked #47 among U.S. life insurance groups by 2024 individual life direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data, with about $705.1 million in individual life premiums and a 0.45% market share. Its much larger group life and disability business is not counted in that ranking.

Unum Group trades on the New York Stock Exchange (UNM) and is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It operates through three main businesses:

• Unum US sells group disability, group life and AD&D, and voluntary benefits through Unum field sales staff working with independent brokers and consultants. It provided 65.4% of the group's 2025 premium income.
• Colonial Life, based in Columbia, South Carolina, sells voluntary disability, life, accident, critical illness and cancer coverage to employees at the workplace through independent contractor agents and brokers, focusing on employers with fewer than 1,000 workers. It provided 17.0% of 2025 premium income.
• Unum International operates in the United Kingdom and Poland.

Unum says it serves 57% of Fortune 100 companies or their affiliates. The group had 10,910 employees at the end of 2025.

History

Unum traces its roots to Union Mutual, chartered in Maine in 1848 and headquartered first in Boston. It issued its first policy, for $5,000 of life insurance, in 1849 and moved to Portland, Maine, in 1881. Union Mutual offered what Unum calls the industry's first group life insurance plan in 1924. In 1986 it changed its name to Unum and converted from a mutual to a stock company (demutualization: when a mutual insurer goes public); participating policies issued before the conversion remain participating.

The modern group was assembled through mergers:

• Provident Life and Accident was founded in Chattanooga in 1887 and began as a railroad insurer.
• The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company was formed in 1930 by the Masonic Protective Association of Worcester, Massachusetts. Provident acquired Paul Revere in 1997.
• Colonial Life & Accident was founded in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1937 and merged with Unum in 1993.
• Unum and Provident merged in 1999 to form UnumProvident Corporation, which renamed itself Unum Group in 2007.
• Starmount Life, founded in Baton Rouge in 1983, was acquired in 2016 to add dental coverage.

Unum stopped selling individual long-term care insurance in 2009 and group long-term care in 2012. Those policies sit in a closed block segment along with individual disability, individual life and corporate-owned life business it no longer markets. In July 2025 it closed a reinsurance deal ceding $3.4 billion of individual LTC reserves and some individual disability business to Fortitude Re. In July 2026 it announced a second deal to cede another $3.8 billion of individual LTC reserves to Fortitude Re, expected to close in 2026. Unum says it will keep administering those policies, including claims and premium rate increases, so affected policyholders continue to deal with Unum.

Life insurance products

Unum's life coverage is sold through employers:

• Group term life from Unum Life Insurance Company of America, often linked to salary and paid by the employer, the employee or both. It includes family coverage for spouses and children and an accelerated death benefit for terminal illness. Employees can get a base amount without medical underwriting, a guaranteed issue limit, and may need evidence of insurability for more. Coverage can often be continued after leaving a job; see keeping group life insurance when you leave a job.
• Group AD&D, available in amounts independent of the life benefit.
• Voluntary term and whole life through payroll deduction. Unum's group and individual whole life is underwritten by Provident Life and Accident. Whole life has level premiums, builds cash value and can be kept into retirement.
• Colonial Life individual term life with 10-, 15-, 20- or 30-year level-premium periods, and Whole Life Plus, which can be paid up at age 70 or age 100. Depending on the plan and amount, employees may need to answer health questions. Colonial Life stopped selling universal life in 2019.

Unum does not sell life insurance directly to individuals outside the workplace. If you want coverage that does not depend on your employer, see is life insurance through work enough? and supplemental (voluntary) life insurance at work.

Other products

Unum is best known for group long-term and short-term disability insurance and for leave and absence management services. It also sells individual disability, accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental, vision and pet insurance through employers. Colonial Life adds cancer coverage. Unum UK sells group income protection.

Buying and service

You get Unum or Colonial Life coverage by enrolling through your employer during open enrollment or after a qualifying life event. Employers buy plans through Unum's sales offices or a benefits broker. Colonial Life agents often hold one-on-one enrollment meetings with employees.

Unum policyholders use the MyUnum for Members website and app to view coverage, file claims, upload documents and set up direct deposit. Bills sent directly to an individual can be paid at pay.unum.com. Unum customer support is at 866-679-3054, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday. Colonial Life policyholders call 800-325-4368 (8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern weekdays) or use the Colonial Life for Policyholders portal. If you had Unum coverage at a former employer, Unum asks you to contact it by phone.

Claims

For Unum term life, AD&D and whole life claims, call 800-445-0402 or file through unum.com/claims. Claim forms can also be faxed to 800-447-2498 or mailed to Unum Life Insurance Company of America, P.O. Box 100158, Columbia, SC 29202. Unum says its group life claims are handled by staff with bereavement training. It commits to a life claim decision within five business days of receiving complete information. Group life plans include Life Planning Financial & Legal Resources counseling for beneficiaries.

For Colonial Life, beneficiaries complete a loss of life notification form online. Colonial Life's claims fax is 800-880-9325, and its mailing address is P.O. Box 1365, Columbia, SC 29202. Group life claims under employer plans are generally governed by ERISA. See how to file a life insurance claim.

Ratings and reputation

As of Unum's February 2026 annual report, its main U.S. insurers, including Unum Life Insurance Company of America, Provident Life and Accident, First Unum and Colonial Life, were rated A (Excellent) by AM Best, A by Fitch, A2 by Moody's and A (Strong) by S&P, all with stable outlooks. AM Best affirmed them again on September 16, 2026, keeping Unum Life Insurance Company of America at A (Excellent) with an "a+" issuer credit rating and a stable outlook, and said it would keep watching reserve adequacy on Unum's closed long-term care block. Moody's upgraded the subsidiaries to A2 from A3 in May 2024. Fitch revised its outlook to stable from positive in September 2025.

Unum is not ranked in the J.D. Power U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study, which covers individually sold life insurance.

The company's reputation was shaped by a disability claims controversy. In November 2004, UnumProvident settled a multistate market conduct examination led by Maine, Massachusetts and Tennessee, joined by the U.S. Department of Labor. It agreed to pay a $15 million fine, change its claims handling and reassess about 215,000 long-term disability claims that had been denied or closed since 2000. Long-term care has also been a long-running drag on earnings, which the 2025 and 2026 reinsurance deals are meant to reduce.

Who it suits

Unum and Colonial Life suit employees whose employer offers them and who want convenient, payroll-deducted life and disability coverage, often with a guaranteed issue amount that needs no medical questions. They suit less well anyone looking to buy an individual policy on their own, or people who rely only on employer coverage that may end or get more expensive when they change jobs or retire.

• Strengths: Large, established workplace benefits insurer with A-range ratings from all four agencies; guaranteed issue amounts and family coverage through work; Colonial Life individual term and whole life that you can keep after leaving a job; a published five-day life claim decision target.
• Weaknesses: Available only through employers; group life is typically renewable term priced by the account and can change at renewal; a history of regulatory penalties over disability claims handling (2004); a legacy long-term care block.

How to contact Unum