American Income Life Insurance Company

The company began in 1951 under the name American Income, chartered as a mutual assessment association in Indiana with $25,000 of borrowed capital. It was reinsured through American Standard Insurance Company as a new mutual reserve company in March 1951. American Income Insurance Company was officially founded in May 1951 by the company's president, Harold Goodman, and executive vice president, Bernard Rapoport, who was Goodman's nephew. The company's home offices were located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In 1961, AIL began providing supplemental insurance to members of labor unions and serving union policyholders in ways unfamiliar to the industry. For example, AIL waived payment of premiums by union members during an authorized strike action, a benefit still offered in 2021. AIL also developed a college scholarship program for children of union members, and the company contributed to the strike funds of unions engaged in lawful strikes. The company was positioned as the only 100% union insurance company, and termed the phrase, “Be Union-Buy Union." In 1963, AIL's income was about $6 or $7 million.

In 1994, American Income Life was sold to Torchmark Corporation for $563 million.

As part of a company-wide rebranding of the Torchmark Corporation, American Income Life became a subsidiary of Globe Life.

Legal and regulatory matters

A 2023 market-conduct examination by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department identified violations involving altered applications, unapproved forms, policy replacements, and deceptive practices by producers. American Income Life disputed some of the findings and described changes to its procedures. In 2024, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found reasonable cause to believe that six sales agents had experienced sex discrimination and that one had also experienced race discrimination. The commission also asserted that the six complainants were employees of Globe Life rather than independent contractors; Globe Life said the findings were nonbinding.

Globe Life and American Income Life received subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Justice in November 2023 concerning sales practices by certain independent agents; the department closed the investigation in July 2025 without taking enforcement action. In April 2024, short sellers Fuzzy Panda Research and Viceroy Research accused American Income Life and affiliated agencies of fraudulent or misleading sales practices. Globe Life denied the allegations, which Reuters said it could not independently verify. Staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission separately concluded an investigation into Globe Life in July 2025 without recommending enforcement action.