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February 19, 2006 at 02:00 PM
A little more than two weeks ago, on Feb. 3, you might have noticed that women in your office, at your children’s schools and in your neighborhoods spent the day dressed in red.
It wasn’t a premature Valentine’s Day celebration. Nor was it a massive fashion faux pas. It was “Wear Red Day,” part of a national heart disease awareness campaign for women called “The Heart Truth.”
Although geared toward women, the campaign could just as easily have been targeted toward financial services professionals, to call attention to a glaring gap–and opportunity–in the women’s disability and life insurance marketplace.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women, killing more than 500,000 each year. Moreover, the disease also is a leading cause of illness and disability in women, resulting in the hospitalization of nearly 2.5 million annually, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Yet, despite the prevalence of cardiovascular conditions, many women are unaware of the potential dangers and their alarming frequency. In a 2003 American Heart Association study, only 13% of women recognized heart disease and stroke as the greatest health threats to them. The end result is that many women are underprepared for the potential financial difficulties they and their loved ones can face when encountering a disability related to heart disease.
That gap creates both a responsibility and an opportunity for financial services providers and professionals to raise awareness among women about the need to prepare for possible disability or death as a result of these and other conditions, and to equip their people and themselves with the understanding and tools they need to help clients address these issues.
Some providers already are acting. For example, our company–MassMutual–has launched a community-based outreach program for financial services professionals that features education for women about how to protect a portion of their income in the event of disability. While these efforts are ongoing, they take on special meaning during American Heart Month and on “Wear Red Day.”
But more needs to be done. Women comprise an ever-growing percentage of the work force and are contributing more to family income. Yet they are at greater risk of disability–permanent or temporary. A 35-year-old woman, for example, is three times as likely as a man of the same age to become disabled for 90 days or more. Women with jobs outside the home are three times more likely to be unable to work because of a disability, including maternity leave, than men, the U.S. Department of Labor reports.
