New Legal & General America Report Looks to Close Life Insurance Coverage Gap

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Oct 22, 2024, 09:00 ET

Education, Value and Innovation Paramount to Helping Americans Prepare for Brighter Futures

FREDERICK, Md., Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Legal & General America (LGA) released "Brighter futures on the horizon" a report that delves into the ways the life insurance industry can help close the coverage gap, which has 102 million Americans underinsured or uninsured according to the 2024 Insurance Barometer Study, produced by LIMRA and Life Happens.

A survey conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of Legal & General America in February 2024 of 2,000 U.S. adults identified three key imperatives that can help close the gap: education, value and innovation.

"There's a profound impact on consumers when we bring education, value and innovation together," said Mark Holweger, chief executive officer for LGA. "Since the advent of our digital platform Horizon in 2019, we have grown from the 8th largest term life insurance carrier to the third¹, increasing the number of policies sold year over year. In 2023, the market's new policy counts only grew 3% but we saw 42% growth."²

The report explores the survey results and taps LGA thought leaders for actionable insights on several key topics, including:

State of the market: The industry faces several barriers to growth, including a large disparity in Americans' confidence in their ability to manage their finances alone and overall financial literacy.
Education: Financial literacy is often not prioritized in schools nor in the home and can be viewed as a taboo topic. The industry, carriers, advisors and agents alike, need to meet Americans where they are by employing a variety of resources including data, technology and creative distribution models.
Value: Life insurance is one of the few products that doesn't actively impact the purchaser. It's also an industry where prevalent and deep-rooted myths plague the industry's growth. Showcasing the value to advisors when it comes to term life insurance sales can help excite distributors and in turn, the public.
Innovation: Today Americans expect things to be digital. When barriers are put up, even as simple as printing a form, interest is lost. The best innovations come from IT and business units working side-by-side to make sure innovations are assets for everyone from the carrier to the end user. "Technology provides a unique opportunity in the reimagination of the life insurance industry and areas where it historically lagged behind," said Raju Seetharaman, LGA's chief technology officer.

"As the industry moves toward this goal to close the life insurance coverage gap together in harmony," Holweger said. "The horizon looks promising for brighter tomorrows."

Legal & General America is focused on helping close the individual insurance gap in the U.S. and creating brighter financial futures for more Americans. Recent innovations and technological advances to its underwriting and application process aim to make finding coverage easier and faster for Americans, with more than one in three applicants currently receiving an instant decision³ and nearly four in five applicants receiving an offer exam free.⁴

For more information on LGA, please visit www.lgamerica.com.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Legal & General America from February 22-26, 2024 among 2,060 U.S. adults ages 18+. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.5 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variable and subgroup sample sizes, please contact [email protected].

About Legal & General America
LGA is one of the nation's leading life insurers, and number three in term life insurance sales in the United States (LIMRA Q1 2024 report). LGA's insurance products are sold nationwide through its companies Banner Life Insurance Company in 49 states and D.C. and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York in New York. LGA has an A.M. Best rating of A+ (Superior) – 2^nd highest out of 15 categories and AA- from Standard & Poor's (Very Strong capacity to meet financial commitments). Ratings are as of November 3, 2022, and apply to Legal & General America Group and its subsidiaries Banner Life Insurance Company and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York. All ratings are subject to change.

About Legal & General Group, Plc
Established in 1836, Legal & General is one of the UK's leading financial services groups and a major global investor, with over £1.2 trillion in total assets under management* of which 39% is international. We have a unique and highly synergistic business model, which continues to drive strong returns. Even so, the Board continues to weigh investment carefully against the relative attractiveness of returning additional capital to shareholders. Legal & General provides powerful asset origination and management capabilities directly to clients, which also underpin our leading retirement and protection solutions. We are a leading international player in Pension Risk Transfer, in UK and US life insurance, and in UK workplace pensions and retirement income. In 2022, L&G's Protection business gave peace of mind to more than 6.3 million UK life insurance, 1.8 million group and 1.5 million US customers, taking in £3.1 billion of gross written premiums. Our purpose is to improve the lives of our customers and create value for our shareholders. Through inclusive capitalism, we are investing in long-term assets, such as real estate and infrastructure, that can help build a better society for the future.

¹Q1 2024 LIMRA report.
²2023 full year LIMRA report. All participants and LGA filters, term life insurance sales only
³Metric reported for full month August 2024. "Instant decision" is defined as total instant decisions as a percentage of total decisions from all business submitted through Horizon in August 2024.
⁴Metrics reported YTD through August 2024. "Exam-free Decisions" is defined as total lab-free decisions as a percentage of total decisions from all business submitted through Horizon through August 2024. "Exam-free Decisions" percentage includes instant decisions.

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SOURCE Legal & General America