You might be able to do a little about one major kind of health risk with the right outbound call, or the right marketing table at the right store.
That risk is social isolation.
The most attractive prospects for some types of financial services products may be more likely than the typical consumer to have a stable career, a stable family life and a warm, attentive network of relatives and friends.
But single men and single women tend to have a more obvious need for long-term care planning services than married consumers, and some of the first formal long-term care institutions found in recorded history started up to serve elderly single women who had no relatives willing and able to take them in.
The vulnerability of lonely consumers to the wrong kind of sales pitch has long been a worry for regulators.
But the irony is that insurance agents and brokers with the right motives might be able to make a small difference simply by reaching out and making themselves known. Producers with more time and resources might be able to help by working with compliance professionals to organize the high-minded, genuinely educational, supportive seminars and social affairs that even a grizzled insurance sales regulator can love.
Another, simpler approach might be to help make people aware of Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups and mobile apps that can help them connect with one another.
The National Center for Health Statistics offers state-by-state data on loneliness among U.S. adults ages 18 and older in a collection of survey data gathered by government survey teams from 2016 through 2012.
The percentage of adult survey participants who told survey workers that they wished they had more social and emotional support ranged from a low of 14.1 percent, in Minnesota, up to a high of more than 24 percent, in three states.
The median loneliness percentage was about 19 percent.
For a look at the states with the worst official loneliness rates, read on:
Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo: Thinkstock)
7. Alabama
Percentage of adults who say they wish they had more social and emotional support: 22.7%.
6. Nevada
Percentage of adults who say they wish they had more social and emotional support: 22.7%.
A storefront bull in San Antonio (Photo: Allison Bell/LHP)
5. Texas
Percentage of adults who say they wish they had more social and emotional support: 23.1%.
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Central Park in New York City (Photo: Allison Bell/LHP)
4. New York
Percentage of adults who say they wish they had more social and emotional support: 23.9%.
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Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. (Photo: Thinkstock)
3. Hawaii
Percentage of adults who say they wish they had more social and emotional support: 24.1%
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Natchez, Mississippi (Photo: Thinkstock)
2. Mississippi
Percentage of adults who say they wish they had more social and emotional support: 24.4%.
La Jolla, California. (AP Photo)
1. California
Percentage of adults who say they wish they had more social and emotional support: 24.6%.
U.S. loneliness data, for 2006-2012
This table gives the age-adjusted percentage of adults, in all 50 states the District of Columbia, who told government survey workers from 2006 through 2012 that they wished they had more social and emotional support.
| Adults who wish they had more social and emotional support, in % | |
| Alabama | 22.7% |
| Alaska | 18.6% |
| Arizona | 19.4% |
| Arkansas | 20.9% |
| California | 24.6% |
| Colorado | 16.9% |
| Connecticut | 18.9% |
| Delaware | 16.5% |
| District of Columbia | 22.2% |
| Florida | 21.2% |
| Georgia | 20.7% |
| Hawaii | 24.1% |
| Idaho | 16.4% |
| Illinois | 20.4% |
| Indiana | 20.2% |
| Iowa | 15.3% |
| Kansas | 15.7% |
| Kentucky | 19.7% |
| Louisiana | 21.7% |
| Maine | 16.3% |
| Maryland | 19.8% |
| Massachusetts | 18.5% |
| Michigan | 19.6% |
| Minnesota | 14.1% |
| Mississippi | 24.4% |
| Missouri | 19.1% |
| Montana | 17.3% |
| Nebraska | 17.1% |
| Nevada | 22.7% |
| New Hampshire | 17.1% |
| New Jersey | 21.8% |
| New Mexico | 20.1% |
| New York | 23.9% |
| North Carolina | 20.6% |
| North Dakota | 16.0% |
| Ohio | 19.5% |
| Oklahoma | 20.1% |
| Oregon | 15.2% |
| Pennsylvania | 20.9% |
| Rhode Island | 20.1% |
| South Carolina | 22.0% |
| South Dakota | 16.8% |
| Tennessee | 18.9% |
| Texas | 23.1% |
| Utah | 15.2% |
| Vermont | 16.5% |
| Virginia | 18.5% |
| Washington | 16.9% |
| West Virginia | 19.0% |
| Wisconsin | 16.1% |
| Wyoming | 16.2% |
| Source: National Center for Health Statistics Health Indicators Warehouse | |
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