Most Critical Illness Insurance Sales Are Small

April 3, 2012 - PRLog -- More than half (53%) of men and 54 percent of women purchased individual critical illness insurance policies providing benefits of $20,000 or less, according to the 2012 Critical Illness Insurance Buyer Study conducted by the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance (AACII) and General Re Life Corporation.

For the second consecutive year, researchers analyzed data from 10 leading critical illness insurance companies, which accounted for over 57,200 purchasers of individual critical illness insurance policies made between January 1 and December 31, 2011.  "People increasingly understand they have some financial risk as a result of higher health insurance deductibles or lost income resulting from a dread disease and are selecting nominal amounts of CI coverage because they believe it is both sufficient and affordable protection," explains Jesse Slome, AACII executive director.
   
According to the 2012 National Critical Illness Insurance Buyer Study some 29 percent of male buyers and 31 percent of female buyers purchased critical illness insurance http://www.criticalillnessinsuranceinfo.org benefit levels of $10,000 or less.   Fewer than one in 10 male buyers (9%) and only eight percent of female buyers purchased over $50,000 in protection.

According to the Association’s online Critical Illness Insurance Price Calculator, a 40-year-old male non-smoker will pay about $20 monthly for $20,000 of CI protection.  Females pay less, Slome notes.

Critical illness insurance pays a tax-free, lump-sum cash benefit generally upon diagnosis of a covered critical illness such as cancer, heart attack or stroke.  Sold in 54 countries worldwide, the first policies became available in the United States around 1996 and today over one million individuals have such protection in the U.S.

The American Association for Critical Illness Insurance is the national trade association providing information to consumers and insurance professionals.   For further information, visit the Association’s Website:  www.aacii.org/ or call (818) 597-3205.

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The American Association for Critical Illness Insurance http://www.criticalillnessinsuranceinfo.org is a national trade organization. Get info and costs at their Consumer Information Center: http://www.criticalillnessinsuranceinfo.org/learning-center/