Aflac to cut rates for Virginia policyholders after SCC findings

Georgia-based American Family Life Assurance Co., better known as Aflac, charged Virginians too much for individual and group accident and sickness insurance, according to an analysis by the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance.

To settle the matter, the Fortune 500 supplemental insurance company paid $64,000 in a settlement agreement, which does not constitute an admission of violating the law. Aflac waived its right to a hearing regarding the matter.

"As a leading supplemental insurer in the United States, we are committed to ensuring that our policyholders receive the benefits for which they are entitled," an Aflac spokesperson said in a statement Monday. "We continue to work with state regulators to ensure all standards are met."

The bureau found during a market analysis that Aflac overcharged policyholders of four plans. It studied six Aflac policies and found that four were not spending a large enough percentage of collected premiums on claims.

The bureau looks at loss ratios, which are the percentages of premiums paid to policyholders rather than used for administrative costs or profits.

Initially, Aflac proposed increasing benefits on the four policies; however, the bureau found that alone to be insufficient, according to a letter sent to Aflac on Oct. 29, 2025.

"The bureau and Aflac have discussed at length the sufficient and appropriate corrective actions that Aflac must take to ensure that the benefits available to the company's current and future policyholders are reasonable in relation to the premiums being paid," Julie R. Fairbanks, chief insurance market examiner of the Life and Health Market Regulation Division at the bureau, wrote in the letter.

Instead, Aflac will file premium rate reductions and benefit enhancements on 16 products issued in Virginia, a list including two dental policies, a vision policy and a personal disability income protector policy.

Aflac must provide written notification to policyholders of the changes by early July, according to the bureau's letter.

The premium reductions, when implemented, will result in total annual cost savings of about $12.6 million for about 120,228 policyholders in Virginia, according to a Jan. 8 letter from the bureau.

Aflac will have to submit annual loss ratio data on all products issued in Virginia for at least five years, beginning in 2027.

Aflac bis the largest provider of supplemental health insurance products in the United States. In 2025, Aflac's total revenues fell 9.3% to $17.2 billion.

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