High benefits payments cut into third-quarter profit at OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc., the Indianapolis-based life insurance company reported Tuesday morning.

OneAmerica earned $15.4 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, down 53 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Most of that difference came from a 17-percent jump in policy benefit payments.

Revenue for the quarter was flat at $332.8 million.

Company officials emphasized that sales of new policies continue to be strong, growing 29 percent during the first nine months of 2011 compared with the same period last year. Sales of new retirement products grew by more than 50 percent.

Those new sales helped boost OneAmerica’s total assets by 6 percent year to date, to $25.1 billion.

Also, revenue through the first nine months of the year grew by nearly 7 percent, to $1.1 billion. The trouble is, OneAmerica’s benefits and expenses have grown 8 percent during that same period.

Profit through the first nine months was $83.6 million, down slightly from $85.5 million during the same period last year.

OneAmerica CEO Dayton Molendorp said “the current environment remains challenging,” but said OneAmerica’s sales growth demonstrates that the company continues to gain traction among customers and financial professionals.

OneAmerica, a holding company of mutual insurance companies, employs roughly 1,300 people at its eponymous tower in downtown Indianapolis.