The short answer
Yes. Bestow is a real business and a term life policy bought through it is a real, in force insurance contract. The company that issues and pays on that coverage today is Lantern Insurance Company of West Des Moines, Iowa, which is the same insurer you bought from under a different name: Bestow sold Bestow Life Insurance Company to Sammons Financial Group in 2024, and Sammons renamed it Lantern. If your paperwork was issued before that sale it will still read Bestow Life Insurance Company, and it is the same insurance company either way.
Lantern Insurance Company is a member company of Sammons Financial Group, an employee owned insurance group based in West Des Moines, Iowa whose other member companies include Midland National Life Insurance Company and North American Company for Life and Health Insurance.
The company you bought from no longer sells insurance
Most digital brands leave you with two names to reconcile. Bestow leaves you with three, and one of them belongs to a company that no longer sells insurance at all. You bought term life at bestow.com, answered health questions in a browser, were approved without an exam and without ever speaking to a person. Then you went back to look something up and found a business that sells software to insurance companies, with no way to buy a policy and no obvious trace of yours. Around the same time the name Lantern Insurance Company started showing up on your account or your paperwork, and you have no memory of choosing it. That is the whole reason this question gets searched, and the explanation is short. Bestow sold its insurance company to Sammons Financial Group in 2024, Sammons renamed it Lantern Insurance Company, and Bestow Inc. kept the technology business it now runs for other carriers. Your contract went with the insurer rather than with the website. The death benefit, the premium and the term did not change because the letterhead did. A sale or a rename is one of the most ordinary events in this industry, and policyholder contracts are built to survive both.
How to check it yourself in about a minute
You should never have to take our word for it, or the company's. Every one of these is free, public, and works for any insurer you ever want to look up.
- Start with the insurer name, not the brand. Open your policy documents and find the company named as the insurer. It will read Lantern Insurance Company, or Bestow Life Insurance Company if your policy was issued before the 2024 sale and rename. Either name points at the same insurer, and that name is the one every other check below should use, because it is the entity that owes the death benefit.
- Look that insurer up with your own state. Your state department of insurance runs a free public licence lookup, and naic.org will point you to the right one. Search the insurer exactly as it is written on your contract. An authorised company appears straight away, along with the lines of business it is cleared to write.
- Match the policy number and the form number. Compare the policy number in your account or your emailed documents against anything you already hold. Bestow and Lantern term policies were issued on the policy form series BLI-ITPOL, so a form number that matches is another quiet confirmation that your paperwork is what it says it is.
- Sign in through an address you type yourself. Your account moved with the business, so reach it by typing the company address into your browser rather than following a link in an unexpected email. Existing Bestow policyholders can still reach their account and claim forms from bestow.com.
- Check the agency licence separately if you want to. Bestow Agency LLC is a licensed insurance producer and third party administrator, and it publishes its licence numbers state by state at bestow.com/licenses, including California licence 0L75933. In California it operates as Bestow Insurance Administration Services LLC. You can take any of those numbers into your own state lookup rather than taking the website at its word.
- Look at financial strength for the issuing insurer. Insurer financial strength is rated by independent agencies and can be checked free at ambest.com. Search the company named on your contract, since that is the balance sheet standing behind the promise. Licensing and financial strength are two separate questions and it is worth knowing both answers.
What is actually going on
- A sale does not touch your contract. When an insurance company changes hands, the policies go with it. Your premium, your death benefit, your term length and your beneficiary designations all carry over unchanged. What changes is the name on the correspondence, which is exactly the part people notice.
- Two names on the paperwork, one insurance company. Policies issued before the 2024 sale carry the Bestow Life Insurance Company name, and policies issued after it carry the Lantern Insurance Company name. It is the same insurer under both, so a beneficiary is dealing with one company whichever name is printed on the contract.
- Bestow today builds software for insurers. Bestow Inc. now provides the technology platform that life insurance carriers run their own products on, and Bestow Agency LLC holds producer and third party administrator licences in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. That is why the website looks like a business to business product page instead of a place to buy a policy.
- No exam does not mean no underwriting. The application asked lifestyle and health questions to determine eligibility so that a medical exam was not required. It was still an underwriting decision, which is why those questions mattered and why accurate answers protect the claim later.
- It was not available everywhere. Lantern Insurance Company products are not available in New York, Maine, Colorado or Puerto Rico. If you live in one of those places and could not buy, that is a licensing boundary rather than anything to read into.
Common questions
Is Bestow a scam?
No. Bestow sold real term life insurance issued by a licensed United States insurer, and it operates today as a licensed insurance producer and third party administrator alongside its software business. The insurance company behind the coverage, Lantern Insurance Company, can be confirmed through your own state department of insurance in about a minute.
Who is Lantern Insurance Company and why is that name on my policy?
Lantern is the insurer that issues and pays on Bestow term policies. Bestow sold Bestow Life Insurance Company to Sammons Financial Group in 2024, and Sammons renamed it Lantern Insurance Company. Same insurer, new name, and a member company of the Sammons group. Seeing that name is the expected result of the sale rather than a sign that anything went wrong.
Is my policy still in force now that Bestow stopped selling insurance?
Yes, as long as the premium is being paid. The contract sits with the insurance company, not with the website you bought from, and it continues on its original terms. Sign in to your account or read your policy schedule to confirm the death benefit, the premium and the term end date are what you remember.
Why does bestow.com not sell life insurance anymore?
Because the direct to consumer business was sold in 2024 and Bestow Inc. kept the technology side. It now supplies the platform other insurance carriers use to build and run their own products. Existing policyholders are still pointed to account access and claim forms from the site, which is the part that matters if you already hold coverage.
Who pays the death benefit if something happens to me?
Lantern Insurance Company is the insurance company that pays the claim. Write the insurer name and your policy number somewhere your family can find them, because that is what a beneficiary needs in order to file. A claim is filed with the insurance company, never with a brand or a website.
Is a policy I bought online in minutes a real insurance contract?
Yes. A policy delivered as a PDF carries the same legal force as one handed over in an envelope, and coverage approved without a medical exam has the same guarantees as coverage that required bloodwork. The insurer used data instead of a lab visit. Save a copy of the contract somewhere your family can reach it, since there is no paper file in a drawer.
Should I keep a policy I bought through Bestow?
Often yes, and that is a perfectly good outcome for a review. Term coverage was priced on your age and health on the day you applied, so replacing it later can cost more or may not be available on the same terms. Understand what you hold, the amount, the term end date and the insurer, and then decide. Plenty of these reviews end with leaving the policy exactly where it is.
How can I check that an insurance company is licensed in my state?
Every state runs a free public lookup through its department of insurance, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners keeps a consumer portal at naic.org that points you to the right one. Search the insurer by name and you will see whether it is authorised to write business in your state. It takes about a minute and it works for any company, not just this one.
I got mail about a policy I do not remember buying. What should I do?
Do not ignore it, and do not act on the letter alone. Match the policy number on the letter against your own records first. If it matches something you hold, the mail is almost certainly a servicing notice or a rebrand notice. If nothing matches, contact the insurer using the details on your own statement or on the company website you looked up yourself, rather than a number printed on an unexpected letter. That habit protects you generally, whoever the sender is.
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This guide is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Licensing and company details change, so confirm anything important with your state department of insurance. Policy Review Center is a free comparison and referral service, not an insurance agency, insurer, or producer, and it connects you with independent licensed agents. Carrier names are used for reference only and do not imply any endorsement or affiliation.