LIMRA Reports Voluntary Life Insurance May Increase

Obtaining life insurance from your employer is nothing new, but LIMRA reports that many US employers are considering adding more voluntary benefits within the next two years to their employee packages.  LIMRA published this information in a summary of results from a survey which included employers with ten or more employees.  This could mean more workers will have the convenient option of a life insurance policy offered through their employer.

Life insurance and cancer insurance continue to be two of the more popular options in voluntary benefit packages.  In addition, approximately 20% of the employers polled said they currently offer long and short term disability insurance according to the article "LIMRA: Employers Thinking About Voluntary Products" by Nu Online News Service on LifeandHealthInsuranceNews.com.  Through these surveys, researchers found that around 30% of the employers are considering new voluntary benefits paid from the employee to replace automatic employer-paid benefits.

About 50% of the employers with 1000 or more workers have expressed interest in replacing employer paid plans with plans paid by the employees and letting them make their choices.  With smaller companies, the interest is even higher says LIMRA.  There are some companies looking into the addition of voluntary major medical or prescription drug benefits about about 75% of these companies plan on replacing employer paid benefits.  This seems to be a way for employers to save money and give more power to the employee over choices.  With the Affordable Care Act requiring most Americans to carry health insurance, there will be a need for employees to choose the options their employers offer.