More Universal Life Comes With Long-Term Care Riders: Milliman

Mark Carter, left, and Ellen Carter, right, married residents of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, hold hands while listening to a piano concert in Riverdale, New York, U.S., on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. In 1995, the home adopted a four-page policy -- considered the first of its kind -- stating that residents "have the right to seek out and engage in sexual expression," including "words, gestures, movements or activities which appear motivated by the desire for sexual gratification." Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Mark Carter; Ellen Carter

More universal life insurance (UL) policies may be coming with chronic illness riders, and more indexed universal life (IUL) policies may be coming with long-term care (riders.

Susan Saip and Carl Friedrich, actuaries at Milliman, have published new data on the market for UL and IUL benefits in a new survey report summary.

The latest survey attracted responses from 30 issuers.

The issuers generated $600 million in premiums from the sale of individual UL policies in the first three quarters of 2019, and 55% of the premiums were tied to policies that came with LTC riders.

That compares with $1.1 billion in premiums and 51% of the premiums being tied to policies with LTC benefits in 2018.

Resources

A copy of the new Milliman universal life and indexed universal life survey report summary is available here.
An article about an earlier Milliman UL/IUL survey report is available here.

For IUL policies, chronic illness riders were the stars.

Issuers sold IUL policies with $1.1 billion in sales for the first quarters of 2019, and 37% of those sales tied to IUL policies with chronic illness riders.

That compares with $1.3 in sales, and 33% of the sales being tied to IUL policies with chronic illness riders, in 2018.

Definitions

A UL policy is a life insurance policy with flexible premiums and flexible benefits. Interest earnings on the account value can increase the policy's cash value.

An IUL policy is a life insurance policy with flexible premiums, flexible benefits, and a crediting rate tied to the performance of an investment index.

A chronic illness rider pays benefits for insureds who suffer from terminal illnesses or critical illnesses.

An LTC rider pays benefits to insureds who are unable to perform activities of daily living or who need care due to an inability to live without supervision.

— Read Average Term Life Premium Falls: Milliman Survey, on ThinkAdvisor.

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