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COVID-19 Mortality Fueled Life Insurance Death Benefits Surge, S&P Says

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The rate of increase for death benefits on individual life policies of 16.7% exceeded the 10.9% rise for group life contracts.

The U.S. life insurance industry recorded its largest year-over-year increase in direct and net death benefits in at least 24 years as excess mortality due to COVID-19 triggered an unusual volume of claims during 2020, S&P Global Market Intelligence reported.

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Life insurance application activity hit record highs in first quarter 2021.

The MIB Life Index reported first-quarter life insurance application activity showed its highest year-over-year, year-to-date and quarter-over-quarter growth since before 2018.
Americans say they want and need life insurance. What is stopping them from buying?

Even with increased interest, there are 102 million uninsured and underinsured Americans who believe they need to buy life insurance or to increase their coverage. This represents 40% the adult population. The question is why don’t they buy?
The Affordable Care Act slowed the growth in out-of-pocket health care costs, a survey said.

Amit Jain told UPI in an email. Still, on average, people insured with ACA plans paid $1,148 in out-of-pocket costs in 2018, a 12% increase over the $1,028 spent in 2000, according to Jain and his colleagues. “Unfortunately, not all states chose to, resulting in persistent inequities in access, which contribute to increasing out-of-pocket costs,” said Jain, an…
What will the 2021 hurricane season bring?

For the season, which begins June 1, meteorologist Phil Klotzbach and other experts from Colorado State University– among the nation's top seasonal hurricane forecasters– predict 17 named tropical storms will form, eight of which will become hurricanes. The group said there's a 69% chance for at least one major hurricane to make landfall somewhere along the…
Young workers say they improved their work-life balance over the past year.

MetLife’s 19th annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study finds more than half of workers in their 20s (51 percent), including Gen Z and young millennials, say their work-life balance is better now than before the pandemic, while only one-quarter of baby boomers say the same.

Building on the firm’ s $30 billion commitment to advance racial equality, the strategy will include partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, initiatives to promote internal mobility, resources to allow diverse employees to grow their career over time and a goal of hiring 300 additional Black and Latinx advisors by 2025..
State Rep. Dylan Roberts is a prime sponsor of the bill, which opens the door to a public option in Colorado.

Colorado Democrats introduced a bill in the state legislature that opens the door to a statewide health insurance public option if insurance carriers don’t reduce health care premium costs by 20% over the individual and small-group markets.

Many in the insurance industry are holding their collective breath as things get back to normal. A major worry is that deferred care will come crashing through the system by this summer, representing a flood of claims once people are willing to see a doctor again.

Washington, D.C. – March 11, 2021 – A new study conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute examining individual account…

Scheduled to take effect in October is a major overhaul of FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program– the biggest change to the program's methodology since 1968. Across New England, tens of thousands of residential properties are considered to have a substantial flood risk– defined as having a 1% annual chance of flooding, or a “100- year flood” risk.

CLEARWATER, Fla., March 2, 2021 — AmeriLife Group, a national leader in developing, marketing, and distributing annuity, life, and health…

BY ZEKE M ILLER The Associated Press. WASHINGTON- President Joe Biden announced changes Monday to target more federal pandemic assistance to the nation's smallest businesses and ventures owned by women and people of color. Biden's team also is carving out $1 billion to direct toward sole proprietors, such as home contractors and beauticians, the majority of…

Consumer priorities have changed significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly half (45%) of consumers surveyed planning to save more and those most impacted financially seeking to mitigate future financial uncertainty.

The recent round of $600 stimulus checks was intended to help fuel the economy through consumer spending and discretionary spending. But many Americans who qualified for the second round of stimulus checks are using – or plan to use – the money for savings, to pay down debt or to handle everyday expenses.

Feb. 12— The state of Illinois will reopen the Affordable Care Act marketplace Monday as part of a national effort to help people get health insurance coverage during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Pritzker said in a news release that providing this service now helps to make sure that more people in Illinois are covered as the pandemic continues to rage…

BETHESDA, MD.- President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. will have enough supply of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the summer to inoculate 300 million Americans. He toured the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory that created the COVID-19 vaccine now manufactured by Moderna and being rolled out in the U.S. and other countries. Biden announced on Thursday that…

Matt Eyles, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, said that his organization wants to assist the administration in its goals of COVID-19 relief and economic recovery, while calling for health equity in America’s communities.

Although the Consolidated Appropriations Act was largely a spending and stimulus relief bill, it also contained a provision that changed the determination of a minimum interest rate used in certain tax-related calculations for life insurance contracts.

–Roughly half of U.S. employees want more help from their employers to save for retirement, balance their work and life issues, and get the most value from their employee benefits, according to research from the Global Benefits Attitudes Survey by Willis Towers Watson.

—U.S. stocks are drifting Wednesday as Wall Street continues a pause from its big recent rally, and even Treasury yields are stalling following their rapid rise. Markets around the world have rushed higher recently on building optimism that a healthier economy is on the way because of the rollout of coronavirus vaccines and the prospect for more stimulus from a…

COLUMBUS, Ga., Jan. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Aflac, a leading provider of supplemental insurance products in the U.S., today announced the national…

DENVER (January 5, 2021) – Skip Schweiss, CFP®, AIF® officially assumed the role of 2021 President of the Financial Planning…
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