Renewable Term Life Insurance

A renewable term life insurance policy is a type of term life insurance that provides coverage for one year at a time. You can renew your policy annually without taking a new medical exam, so you'll keep your coverage even if your health changes.

The key difference between annual renewable term (ART) life insurance and other term policies is how premiums work. Level term insurance locks in your rate for the entire term (10, 20 or 30 years). With ART policies, your premiums increase yearly as you age and the risk grows.

Note: Life insurance rates and availability vary by state, age, health and other factors.

ART life insurance lets you make flexible coverage decisions each year. You get one year of coverage, then decide whether to renew, giving you year-by-year control.

With annual renewals, you won't need new medical exams even if your health has changed since buying your policy, but your premiums get recalculated based on your current age. Because older people have higher mortality risk, insurance companies charge higher rates as you age while letting you avoid applying for entirely new policies.

Life insurance policies don't have deductibles. When the insured passes away, the life insurance beneficiaries receive the full death benefit.

You choose whether to renew your ART policy every year. Here's how it works:

• Automatic Renewal: Most policies renew automatically unless you cancel. Your insurer recalculates premiums based on your current age. You keep your coverage even if you've developed health problems that would normally disqualify you.
• Premium Changes: Your renewal premium reflects your age and mortality risk that year. Level term policies spread costs over many years. Renewable term policies price each year separately.
• No Medical Exam: You skip the medical exam at renewal, even with new health problems since you first applied.
• Review Your Terms: Read your renewal notice every year for changes to coverage limits, maximum renewal age or policy conditions. Watch for conversion opportunities that expire as you get older.
• Confirm Payment: Verify your premium payment processes to avoid losing coverage. Most insurers give you a 30 day grace period, but missed payments can kill your renewal rights permanently.

The premium for a renewable term life insurance policy starts cheaper than longer-term policies because insurers have less risk in the short term. But your premiums aren't locked in and will increase yearly when you renew.

Your age is the main factor driving these increases. As you get older, your risk of death naturally rises, so insurers charge more. This means ART can save you money initially, but it gets more expensive over time, especially if your health deteriorates.

Other factors insurers consider when determining rates include:

• Health: Your initial health classification determines your rate class and stays fixed throughout the policy, even if your health changes.
• Coverage Amount: Higher death benefits mean higher premiums, but the per-dollar cost often decreases with larger policies.
• Gender: On average, women pay less due to longer life expectancy.
• Lifestyle: Smoking, dangerous hobbies and high-risk occupations increase rates.

ART premiums follow predictable patterns. Here's an example of how a healthy 30-year-old's $500,000 policy might progress:

• Age 30: $240 annually
• Age 35: $312 annually (30% increase over 5 years)
• Age 40: $456 annually (90% increase from age 30)
• Age 45: $720 annually (200% increase from age 30)
• Age 50: $1,176 annually (390% increase from age 30)

By age 50, the same policy that cost just $240 a year at age 30 has become almost five times more expensive. This steady rise illustrates why ART policies become expensive over time and why many prefer level-term coverage for long-term affordability.

Shopping around helps you find the best ART rates and compare what different insurers offer. Use our life insurance cost calculator to get quotes quickly.

ART life insurance offers benefits and drawbacks worth weighing against your financial goals and timeline.

Life insurance feels overwhelming when you don't know how long you'll need coverage. Annual renewable term gives you flexible coverage that shifts with your personal and business changes. ART works best for temporary protection you can adjust.

The medical underwriting process for annually renewable term life insurance determines your initial rates and approval.

Medical Exam Requirements

Higher coverage amounts typically require more comprehensive medical exams. Basic policies may need only health questionnaires, while larger coverage amounts often require paramedical exams with blood work, urine tests and potentially EKGs based on your age and requested coverage.

Health Classifications

Your initial health rating stays fixed throughout your policy. Rating systems vary by insurer, but common classifications include:

• Preferred Plus: Excellent health, lowest available rates
• Standard: Average health with manageable conditions
• Substandard: Significant health issues, higher rates based on risk

You can add riders to your renewable term life insurance for extra protection. Riders are add-ons that expand what your policy covers or how it works.

Popular options include accelerated death benefits or a premium waiver, which can make your policy more valuable but will cost extra. Before adding riders, make sure you can afford the higher premiums long-term.

• Accelerated Death Benefit Rider: Access 25% to 100% of your death benefit while you're alive if you're diagnosed with a terminal illness. Your prognosis and insurer guidelines determine how much you can access. The remaining death benefit goes to your beneficiaries when you die. You need medical certification of terminal illness with a life expectancy of 12 to 24 months.
• Waiver of Premium Rider: Keeps your coverage active without premium payments if you become totally disabled. The rider kicks in after a waiting period, usually 90 to 180 days from when your disability starts. You must typically be under age 60 when disability occurs. The waiver continues until age 65. Most insurers need medical documentation proving total disability prevents you from working in your occupation.
• Child Term Rider: Covers your dependent children for $10,000 to $25,000 per child. One premium covers all eligible children, no matter how many you have. Coverage typically continues until the child turns 25, when they can often convert to their own policy without a medical exam.
• Accidental Death Rider: Doubles your death benefit if you die in an accident, giving extra financial protection for unexpected tragedies. The rider defines specific circumstances that qualify as accidents and may exclude activities like extreme sports or military combat. Coverage typically applies 24 hours a day, worldwide, for qualifying accidental deaths.

ART isn't right for everyone, especially for long term coverage needs. Consider these alternatives based on your situation.

• Level Term Life Insurance: Locks your premium for the entire term (10, 20 or 30 years). You pay the same rate throughout, making it cheaper than ART if you need coverage for several years.
• Decreasing Term Life Insurance: The death benefit drops over time to match declining debt like a mortgage balance. Costs less than level term since the payout shrinks each year.

• Whole Life Insurance: Combines lifelong coverage with a savings account that grows at a guaranteed rate. Premiums stay the same. You can borrow against the cash value.
• Universal Life Insurance: Gives you more control over premiums and death benefit than whole life. Adjust both up or down as your finances change.

• Long term planning: You want lifelong coverage plus an investment building cash value you can borrow against later.
• Estate planning: You need to leave money for heirs or cover estate taxes protecting your family's inheritance.
• Changing income: Your earnings fluctuate, so you want flexibility to adjust premiums and coverage.

Term versus permanent life insurance depends on your budget, age, health and whether you want an investment component. Most people start with term since it's cheaper, then look at permanent options when their finances improve.

Renewable term gives you flexible coverage that shifts with changing circumstances. Annual renewals let you keep coverage without medical exams even when your health deteriorates.

Annual renewable term suits transitional periods like starting a family, changing careers or covering temporary debts. For short term needs, ART's lower initial costs beat longer term policies.

Finding the right life insurance company means looking beyond advertised rates to evaluate whether an insurer consistently delivers affordable premiums, handles claims fairly and offers coverage that fits your protection timeline. We analyzed 1,488 quotes alongside customer satisfaction ratings, financial stability reports and product availability to identify which companies genuinely serve different buyer needs—not just which ones spend the most on marketing.

Affordability drives 50% of our rankings because life insurance exists to provide financial protection your family can actually afford to maintain for decades. Customer experience accounts for 30%, reflecting how insurers handle the application process, communicate policy details and pay death benefits when your family needs them most. Coverage options make up the remaining 20%, since flexible term lengths, conversion features and riders let you adapt protection as your financial obligations change.

We built our baseline around a 40-year-old male non-smoker at 5'9" and 160 pounds with an average health rating; a profile that captures standard pricing without complications that trigger higher premiums or underwriting scrutiny. We then adjusted age, gender, height, weight, tobacco use, health status and location to understand how rates shift across different customer profiles, because a healthy 30-year-old pays vastly different premiums than a 50-year-old with controlled hypertension.

Our scoring methodology awards up to five points per category, creating an overall score out of 100 that weights what matters most when protecting your family's financial future. Each company's evaluation incorporated cost data from online quotes, AM Best financial strength ratings (confirming they'll exist to pay claims 20+ years from now), NAIC complaint index scores (flagging poor claims handling), buying tools like online applications and payment flexibility, plus product diversity from term life to permanent coverage options.

We examined multiple term lengths and coverage amounts to spot pricing patterns showing which companies keep competitive rates across different policy structures, not just intro offers that spike after year one. This exposes insurers advertising low premiums but charging much more once they factor in your actual age, health or coverage needs.