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Aflac sells supplemental health and life insurance that pays cash directly to people when they get sick or hurt.
Aflac sells a specific kind of insurance that most people have never heard of until they need it. It is called supplemental health insurance, and it works alongside a regular health plan rather than replacing it. When someone gets cancer, has a heart attack, breaks a bone, or lands in the hospital, their main health insurance pays the doctors and the hospital. Aflac then sends the policyholder a check directly — cash they can spend on rent, groceries, childcare, or whatever else they need while they are too sick to work. The company makes money by collecting premiums every month and paying out claims only when specific covered events happen. Its main customers are working people in the United States and families in Japan, and most of them buy coverage through their employer.
The business splits into two big pieces, and they are very different in size. Japan is the larger one, bringing in roughly two-thirds of revenue, where Aflac has sold cancer and medical policies for decades and is one of the best-known insurance brands in the country. The U.S. segment is the other third and leans heavily on worksite sales, where an agent sits down with employees at a company and signs them up for coverage. The U.S. side has been the faster-growing piece lately, helped by new products like hospital and critical illness plans and by a push into dental and vision. Two important numbers to remember: the company took in about $19 billion in total revenue last year, and it has raised its dividend for more than 40 straight years, which puts it in a small club of companies that have done that.
Think of it as a financial safety net you buy in case your paycheck disappears when you get sick. That simple idea has been remarkably durable. Aflac was started in 1955 by three brothers in Columbus, Georgia, and it found its real home in Japan after the founders noticed how popular cancer insurance was there. Today the company spends a lot of its cash buying back its own stock, which shrinks the number of shares outstanding and makes each remaining share worth more — a meaningful amount each year — while also paying shareholders a growing dividend. Like any insurer, its results depend on two things: whether claims come in lower than expected, and whether the money it invests earns a decent return, so rising rates and medical cost trends are always worth watching.
Saved answer · last researched 11 Oct 2026