Interest in hospital indemnity insurance has been sizzling in the U.S. workplace benefits market, according to new LIMRA survey data.
Employers were 58% more likely to add hospital indemnity benefits in the third quarter of this year than in the third quarter of 2020, LIMRA says.
The number of workers with hospital indemnity coverage increased 20%, year-over-year, and new annualized premiums from hospital indemnity sales increased 25%.
Hospital indemnity policies pay fixed cash benefits when insureds experience covered life events.
LIMRA included the hospital indemnity figures in a new batch of workplace benefits sales survey results. The Windsor, Connecticut-based financial services research organization bases the survey results on data from insurers that account for about 90% of new annualized premiums in the workplace benefits markets.
LIMRA looked at other supplemental health benefits, disability insurance benefits and life insurance benefits as well as at hospital indemnity insurance.
Employers were about 25% more likely to add long-term disability plans and short-term disability plans in the third quarter, but long-term care disability plans were much more likely to be covering more people than short-term disability plans were.
Growth in the number of insureds was 13% for long-term care insurance benefits in the third quarter and 2% for short-term disability insurance benefits, according to LIMRA.
In the life benefits market, both term life and permanent life did well, but term life did better.
Enrollment in new term life plans increased 41%. Enrollment in new permanent life plans rose just 20%.
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