Supplemental Products Appeal To Women, Young Boomers

Women and workers in their 40s seem to be especially likely to buy supplemental disability and critical illness insurance.

Researchers at UnumProvident Corp., Chattanooga, Tenn., have published data supporting those conclusions in a review of trends in the benefits market.

The authors of the report drew heavily on outside research, but they also included tables based on UnumProvident customer data.

At UnumProvident, female workers were only somewhat more likely to buy supplemental life insurance than male workers, but female workers were far more likely to buy extra disability and critical illness coverage, the researchers report.

In 2005, only 39% of the workers with in-force UnumProvident critical illness coverage were male, and only 31% of the workers with in-force UnumProvident supplemental disability coverage were male, according to UnumProvident.