Panel: Insurers need to rethink products, distribution to close protection gap

DALLAS -- Life insurers must rethink how they reach consumers, develop financial advisors and design products if they hope to close the nation’s protection gap, industry executives said during a LIMRA panel.

The session – titled, “Advancing Sustainable Growth in the Life Insurance Industry” – highlighted day two of the 2026 LIMRA Annual Conference. Bill Nash, vice president and head of member relations for LIMRA and LOMA, moderated the discussion.

Nash pointed to sales data showing life insurance setting records after many years of flat numbers.

Following record-breaking growth in 2025 where total new premium topped $17.5 billion, 2026 data shows total quarterly premiums rising 3% alongside an 8% jump in overall policy count, driven by resilient demand for whole life and variable universal life products.

Still, a significant number of Americans remain uninsured or underinsured.

“How do we either make that shift and continue that trend, or what can we do to continue to drive awareness?” Nash asked.

The industry has made progress in speeding up underwriting and simplifying the application process, but those improvements have not necessarily translated into more policies being sold, said Alanna Schultz, head of sales and client management at Swiss Re Life and Health America.

“We made it easier for the adviser to shop the same customer across more carriers, but we haven't placed more policies,” Schultz said. “We haven't closed or reduced the protection gap, and that's the outcome that I want.”

The panelists said the industry must shift its focus from selling products to helping consumers understand the financial security life insurance can provide.

Making protection relevant

One of the industry's biggest challenges is that recognizing a need for life insurance does not necessarily prompt consumers to act, Schultz said. Behavioral research shows that consumers often place greater value on immediate benefits than on insurance they might not need for decades, she noted.

Schultz described a customer who questioned why he was paying $40 a month for life insurance when he received more immediate satisfaction from a $20 Netflix subscription.

“It's funny, but it's incredibly insightful because the value he gets from Netflix is today, and the cost of life insurance is immediate and that's tangible and that's today,” she said. “But the financial benefit that he ascribes to it may come down decades later and may go to somebody else.”

Swiss Re trains customer service representatives to ask one question of policyholders who want to cancel coverage: Have you told your beneficiary that you intend to cancel this policy?

The question can prompt consumers to reconsider, Shultz said, without changing the policy's price or benefits.

Younger consumers and advisors

Attracting younger consumers and financial professionals will require changes in how life insurance is marketed, sold and incorporated into financial planning, panelists agreed.

Traditional life insurance sales have often focused on major life events such as marriage, homeownership and having children. But those milestones are occurring later or differently for many younger adults, Schultz said.

Insurers need to find new ways to educate younger consumers about the value of coverage, she said.

Nathan Schelhaas, senior vice president and head of business owner segment at Principal Financial Group, said recruiting and retaining advisors is another challenge.

The number of advisors entering the insurance business over the past decade has been roughly equal to the number leaving, he said. Insurers need to make it easier for younger advisors to establish themselves, including through mentorships and partnerships.

“It is hard to get started in this business and make any sort of money,” Schelhaas said, “which is part of the reason we see so many going to wealth management.”

Rethinking the middle market

Serving middle-market consumers remains a persistent challenge for life insurers, particularly when traditional distribution and underwriting models make coverage expensive or difficult to obtain.

Schultz said insurers should start with what consumers can afford and design products and distribution systems around that price point.

She pointed to IKEA's practice of designing products around a target price, then determining how to manufacture and distribute them.

“What if we said, ‘OK, instead of that $40 premium, we need as an industry to manufacture a life insurance product that will cost roughly the cost of iCloud storage, $10 to $15 a month,’” Schultz said. “What would that look like?”

That approach could require changes to underwriting, data access, distribution and product design, she said.

Andrew Gordon is head of life insurance at the Guardian Life Insurance Co. He said technology could help insurers reach more consumers by reducing friction and making coverage easier to obtain.

“I think that what has to happen is for technology to be scaled in a way that can be really powerful, and I think that's a place with some work to do,” Gordon said.

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