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Total new premium for individual life combination products increased 22% to $4.3 billion, compared with prior year results, and down slightly from the $4.8 billion in premium generated in 2019, according to LIMRA’s 2021 U.S. Individual Life Combination Products Annual Review. Combination products represented 20% of total life insurance premium in 2021.

COVID-19 raised consumers’ awareness about the importance of life insurance. According to LIMRA research, half of U.S. workers believe their life insurance benefit is more important due to COVID-19. To ensure every worker who has access to life insurance at their workplace opts in, our industry needs to expand efforts to educate employers about the value their workers place on life insurance and encourage them to highlight this important benefit during their next open enrollment.

After strong results in 2019, the total new premium for individual life combination products decreased 23% to $3.7 billion in 2020, according to LIMRA’s 2020 U.S. Individual Life Combination Products Annual Review. There were approximately 421,000 policies sold in 2020, down 7% compared with 2019 results.

Life combination products provide life insurance coverage with long-term care or chronic illness coverage, an attractive value proposition to consumers, according to LIMRA consumer research.

Healthcare costs have been on the rise over the past decade. In response, some employers have scaled back on their health insurance offerings, at times leaving gaps in coverage. As a result, the voluntary benefits market, where employees pay the premiums, has become more popular among employers.

These voluntary benefits programs, however, have underlying costs to employers, including those related to implementation and administration. Digital tools can help employers reduce these costs by simplifying operations and improving efficiency.

As the pandemic spread, images of nursing homes and assisted care facilities flooded the media. The sick and elderly were particularly vulnerable to this deadly virus and so many families were cut off from their parents and grandparents in the hopes of protecting them from exposure to COVID-19.

With this in mind, LIMRA surveyed more than 2,000 Americans to determine if the pandemic has shifted their thoughts about long-term care and insurance.