Life Insurance Accounts for the Largest Share of Both Voluntary Inforce and Sales, According to an Eastbridge Report.

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Results from Eastbridge Consulting Group's U.S. State ESI and EPI Data report show that life insurance continues to lead the market in share of both inforce premium and new sales. However, a deeper look at the numbers shows there is more to the story.

Term life inforce premium saw a 6% market share growth from 29% in 2014 to 35% in 2015. During that same time period, universal/whole life inforce actually went down 1% from 9% to 8%. Such differences in market share for these similar product lines may be indicative of the mix in distributors selling voluntary today. "We continue to see growth in the share of all voluntary sales from Employee Benefit Brokers," said Gil Lowerre, Eastbridge President. "It is fairly common to see those producers new to voluntary selling products they are most comfortable with based on their experience representing employer-paid coverages. Term life often fits that bill."

While its inforce premium share is more than twice that of the next closest product, life insurance does not own the same lead in overall new sales, capturing only 27% of the market, down from 29% the year before. "Life insurance enjoys the benefit of higher persistency than other voluntary products, like accident, for example," says Bonne Brazzell, Eastbridge Vice President. "Over time that has helped its inforce premium accumulate better than other products, but is not necessarily evidence for its current trend or future potential."

This sixth annual U.S. State ESI and EPI Data report includes state-by-state sales and inforce data and provides two measures that relate these data to the number of employed Americans in each state. The ESI (Eastbridge Sales Index) and EPI (Eastbridge Premium Index) provide real sales coverage (ESI) and penetration (EPI) measures on a state level. In addition, the report provides information on sales by employer size and inforce premium by line of business. This information changes the way carriers can look at real sales coverage and penetration and, therefore, the opportunity for voluntary expansion.

The U.S. State ESI and EPI Data report is an adjunct to Eastbridge's annual U.S. Voluntary/Worksite Sales Report and includes sales and inforce data by state, as reported by the survey participants. The report is free but available only to survey participants. For more information on becoming a participant in the next annual survey, contact the company at info@eastbridge.com or call (860) 676-9633. Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc. (www.eastbridge.com ) is a marketing advisory firm serving insurance and financial services organizations in the United States and Canada. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160721005384/en/

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