Vision insurance sales increased a whopping 24 percent last year over 2013, leading the way in worksite voluntary sales growth, according to industry data.

The info comes from LIMRA's U.S. Worksite Sales survey, which, overall, found that voluntary benefits sales increased 5 percent in 2014 compared to 2013. That marks the fourth straight year of growth for voluntary, LIMRA said.

Following vision insurance, critical illness sales grew 19 percent in 2014, while accident insurance grew 12 percent.

Each of these products has grown by 12 percent or more in the past four years, LIMRA said. Life insurance products saw increases, too, with stand-alone accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) sales up 11 percent and universal life sales increasing by 7 percent. The only decrease LIMRA reported was long-term disability sales, which declined by 5 percent.

“Voluntary benefits are on a growth trend, in part because they allow employers to enrich their employee benefits portfolio at no direct cost,” said Ron Neyer, assistant research director, LIMRA distribution research. Neyer noted that a recent LIMRA study found that seven in 10 employers who offer voluntary benefits said “these options help improve morale for existing employees and assist them in attracting and retaining new talent.”

The LIMRA data mirrors that from Eastbridge Consulting Group, which found that voluntary sales were up nearly 4 percent in 2014. Eastbridge pegged total voluntary/worksite sales for 2014 at $6.89 billion, up from $6.644 billion in 2013.

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