Final Expense Life Premium Revenue Rises 10%: Life Insurers Council

What You Need to Know

Life insurers distribute most final expense coverage through independent marketing organizations, or IMOs.
Funeral homes sell preneed policies directly to their customers.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a big drop in sales in March 2020 and April 2020.

Life insurers generated more final expense life insurance premium revenue in 2020 but less preneed life insurance premium revenue, according to the Life Insurers Council.

The council says total final expense life premium increased 9% between 2019 and 2020, to $480 million.

Preneed life insurance premium revenue fell 10%, to $1.4 billion.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, new final expense sales were especially weak in March 2020 and April 2020, and new preneed insurance sales were down sharply in April 2020, the council says.

The Life Insurers Council, which serves small and midsize life insurers, is an arm of LOMA, which, in turn, is part of LL Global.

The Survey

Final expense insurance is life insurance that families can use to cover the cost of funerals, burials, medical bills and other end-of-life expenses.

Life insurers distribute most of this type of coverage through independent marketing organizations, or IMOs.

What Happened

Jeffrey Shaw, the Life Insurers Council executive director, said sales of final expense and preneed products fell as companies began to comply with strict social distancing guidelines and improve as conditions began to recover.

In the final expense market, for example, many insurers moved quickly to increase use of electronic application systems or call centers.