Total Group Term Life inforce premium grew by 2 percent in 2010, totaling over $20.3 billion, results from the 2010 U.S. Group Life Market Survey and the 2010 U.S. Group Disability Market Survey showed. Combined short-term disability and long-term disability inforce premium rose slightly, by roughly 1 percent, totaling close to $13.2 billion.
STD inforce premium increased by 4 percent while LTD inforce premium remained level year-over-year. Compared to 2009, the total number of employers offering coverage declined by approximately 1 percent for Group Term Life, and increased by 1 percent for LTD and STD. The total number of insured employees was up close to 1 percent for Group Term Life, remained level for LTD and increased by 3 percent for STD. Group Term Life sales remained flat in 2010, at $2.3 billion.
Reported volume for participating carriers decreased by close to 5 percent. The average face amount on new Group Term Life policies increased by 10 percent, to $79,204 in 2010. Combined group disability (STD and LTD) sales declined by 13 percent, to nearly $2.3 billion.
Both LTD and STD sales decreased, by 4 percent for STD and 17 percent for LTD. “2010 proved to be another very challenging year for most companies in the group life and disability business,” says Drew King, senior vice president at Gen Re Life, which released the surveys.
“While health care reform has not yet been fully implemented, it appears to have distracted both employers and group benefits brokers in the past year. In addition, the uneven nature of the economic recovery and continuing high unemployment are limiting opportunities for growth in the group benefits market.”
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