Customer satisfaction with their life insurance decreased over the past year, but consumers are still much happier with their life plan than health insurance. Out of 43 industries, life insurance had the fifth-highest satisfaction rate, tying with five others that also had a score of 80 out of 100, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
Just a year ago, life insurance earned a record-high ACSI score of 83. Electronics topped this years list with an 86, according to the report, which surveyed 6,819 randomly chosen people between July and September. Health insurance earned a fourth-worst score of 70 behind just airlines, cable companies and Internet providers.
Prudential led all large life insurance companies with a 79, a 1% increase from last year, followed by New York Life (77), Northwestern Mutual (76) and MetLife (76) each of which dropped from last year. The survey broke down satisfaction within each category. For life insurance, understanding how premiums are calculated and policy discounts received the lowest customer ratings.
Health insurance rating drops
A 4.1% drop put health insurance at its lowest customer satisfaction rating since 2005, according to ACSI. Health insurance has a history of lower customer satisfaction than other types of insurance due to high premiums, deductibles and co-pay, as well as more complex and frequently used claims processes, the report says.
Satisfaction with individual plans remained stable with a score of 74, the report says, but group policies plunged to 67, down from 72. The increasing cost of health care has contributed to a lower customer satisfaction especially for employer-provided group plans, ACSI says. This decline is all the more problematic for the industry given that group policies remain by far the most prevalent. The Affordable Care Acts impact on customer satisfaction is uncertain, the report says.
Thanks to a 3% increase, UnitedHealthcare has the top rating of 72 among large carriers, followed by Blue Cross and Blue Shield (69), WellPoint (66) and Aetna (65) all three sustained losses between 6-10% from last year.
Call centers had the lowest satisfaction websites and variety of plans also had poor ratings. Access to primary care and specialty care and hospitals received the highest ratings.
