Press Release Archives
|
Annual
Eastbridge study finds double-digit growth
in disability as well as other product lines in 2006
AVON,
CONNECTICUT, USA (May
31, 2007)
Voluntary
disability sales showed robust growth in 2006, according
to Eastbridge’s annual U.S. Worksite Sales Study. Total
disability sales were over $1 billion last year, an increase
of 25 percent over 2005 levels. In fact, disability moved
ahead of life insurance in 2006 in terms of overall market
share, 23 percent vs. 21 percent.
“Short-term disability accounts for about
three-fourths of the sales,” says Bonnie Brazzell, vice
president of Eastbridge, “but long-term disability grew
at a much faster pace.“ Long-term disability grew at 54
percent over 2005, compared to 17 percent for STD. “We
saw several of the large carriers in both the VSTD and VLTD lines
have extremely strong growth in 2006,” adds Brazzell.
“Other lines with strong, double-digit
sales included cancer and hospital indemnity/ voluntary medical,” says
Gil Lowerre, president. “We continue to see growth in products
that assist employees in covering health care costs,” adds
Lowerre. In 2006, the cancer line also grew at about 25 percent
while the hospital indemnity/voluntary medical line grew at 12
percent.
Overall, life sales were down slightly (3 percent)
from 2005 but still accounted for about $1.0 billion in sales.
Term sales accounted for about 64 percent of the total life sales.
Term sales held relatively stable, but universal/whole life sales
were down about eight percent.
As for sales results by product platform, not
much has changed over the last several years. About 43 percent
of the sales are for group products and 57 percent are for individual.
Group sales grew at 8.2 percent in 2006 while individual grew
at 7.8 percent (compared to three and four percent, respectively,
for 2005).
The U.S. Worksite Sales Study is
an annual report conducted by Eastbridge for the past seven years.
The most recent report (2006) includes detailed data on the performance
of 61 worksite marketing carriers, both group and individual, and
represents the largest number of carriers included in any sales
report for the industry. The report is only available to participants.
For more information, contact Eastbridge at info@eastbridge or
call (860) 676-9633.
Eastbridge
Consulting Group, Inc. is a marketing advisory firm serving
insurance and financial services organizations in the United
States and Canada.
|
