The number of people with a disability who were employed in January spiked by 27% from January 2020, to 7.29 million in January — with December at 7.37 million having been the highest in the data from the BLS going back to 2008:
Preliminary evidence suggests there may be significant implications for employment: Surveys show that among adults with long COVID who worked prior to infection, over half are out of work or working fewer hours (Figure 2). Many conditions associated with long COVID—such as malaise, fatigue, or the inability to concentrate—limit people’s ability to work, even if they have jobs that allow for remote work and other accommodations. Two surveys of people with long COVID who had worked prior to infection showed that between 22% and 27% of those workers were out of work after getting long COVID. In comparison, among all working-age adults in 2019, only 7% were out of work. Given the sheer number of working age adults with long COVID, the employment implications may be profound and are likely to affect more people over time. One study estimates that long COVID already accounts for 15 percent of unfilled jobs.
Seventeen carriers participated in our 2021 U.S. Individual Disability Market Survey, representing 99% of the market and $5.1 billion of in‑force premium. New sales in 2021 were $399 million which was flat when compared to new sales in 2020. Breaking this down even further, both Non-Cancelable (Non‑Can) and Guaranteed Renewable (GR) sales were flat when compared to 2020. Non‑Can was down 0.1% and GR was up 0.5%. Of the $399 million in total new sales premium, Non‑Can products represent 84% or $334 million, and GR is 16% or $65 million.
When asked about meeting their 2021 sales goals, 47% of the responding companies said they missed theirs. 18% of the companies met and 35% of the companies exceeded their goals. Some of the reasons given for missing sales goals were:
COVID limited face-to-face contact with consumers
Agents were focused on other products such as life insurance
The number of new policies issued grew by 2% to over 251,000 and total benefit amounts increased by 3% to more than $1.6 billion. The medical market continues to be a main driver of new business. In 2021, close to 30% of all new policies sold were in the medical market; however, the industry did see some growth down-market with increases in the number of new policies sold in the blue collar space.
Second, one of the key drivers of these stable and low benefit ratios has been steady-to-declining rates of claims incidence. In a recent paper published by the SOA and co‑authored by Gen Re’s Jay Barriss, Individual Disability incidence rates were shown to have steadily improved over the 2005 to 2015 period, relative to the latest Individual Disability Valuation Table (IDIVT) incidence rate expectations.10 The favorable incidence rate trends have likely continued into at least into 2020 as Gen Re analysis on our reinsured blocks of disability business show continuing-to-stable incidence trends since 2015.
Life and disability insurance, as well as annuities, traditionally have been analyzed as products providing protection against random losses. This article proposed that these products can be viewed as derivative instruments created to address the uncertainties and inadequacies of an individual’s human capital, if human capital is viewed as a financial instrument. In short, life insurance (including disability insurance and annuities) is the business of human capital securitization.
Author(s): Krzysztof M. Ostaszewski, PhD, MAAA, FSA, CFA