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Life Health > Life Insurance

U.S. Life Application Activity Softened in July

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Changes in some life insurers’ sales and marketing strategies might have shaped U.S. individual life insurance application activity in July.

MIB Group, an organization that helps life insurers share some of the information used in the life insurance underwriting process, found that overall individual life application activity was 0.6% lower than in July 2022.

In June, overall application activity was 4.5% higher than in June 2022.

MIB reported dramatic differences between activity levels for applications for death benefits equal to or less than $250,000 and applications for bigger death benefits. For all age groups MIB tracks, activity level changes for small policies looked worse than the changes for bigger policies.

What It Means

The difference between the activity levels for small policies and big policies could be a result of the effects of inflation and layoffs on middle-market consumers, but it could also be a sign that some carriers that have focused on courting middle-market consumers pulled back in July.

The Numbers, by Age

MIB creates its monthly life insurance application activity reports by using the volume data for its policy-checking systems.

Here are the year-over-year activity change figures for July, for applicants in the age groups:

  • Ages zero-30: +0.9%
  • Ages 31-50: +3.3%
  • Ages 51-60: -4.4 %
  • Ages 61-70: -7.9%
  • Ages 71 and older: -6.0%

The Policygenius Price Index

A web broker, Policygenius, uses its own sales data to post a monthly term life price index.

The prices in the index tables range from the average monthly premiums for a 25-year-old female nonsmoker who needs $250,000 in death benefits up to the average monthly premiums for a 55-year-old male smoker who needs $1 million in death benefits.

This month, the cost for the 25-year-old female nonsmoker seeking $250,000 in coverage was $14.59. That’s the same as in August 2022.

The cost for the 55-year-old male smoker seeking $1 million in coverage held steady at $1,006.82.

Credit: Adobe Stock


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