Americans Underinsured For Their Fears: JWT Study

JWT also found 46% were short on coverage in cases of disability, 55% lacked coverage for care in residential homes with medical facilities and 35% did not have life insurance.

Consumers also appeared to be uninformed about the options available to them. The sample tended to be unfamiliar with many of the insurance products available to them such as second-to-die life insurance (68%), variable annuities (50%), universal life insurance (53%) and health savings accounts (38%).

Despite the numbers, however, 68% said they had made changes to improve their health and life expectancies in the last five years.

In addition, 61% expect to live longer and healthier lives than their parents did, and among those over age 60, 71% thought so. But 58% disagree that they want to live as long as is medically possible, whatever their state of health.

Marian Salzman, an executive vice president at JWT, attributes the results to the abstract nature of insurance to Americans. It "does very little to reduce their feelings of anxiety in the here and now," Marian says. "Americans have long-term anxieties the insurance industry can help to address, provided the industry can figure out how to connect with people on today's [fast-paced, instant-gratification] terms."