COVID-19 Prompts Highest Rise In US Life Insurance Payouts Since 1918 Spanish Flu - Report

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published December 09, 2021 | 07:48 PM

The amount of life insurance payouts in the United States reached a single-year high in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, while a year-to-year increase became the highest since the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, research by the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) revealed on Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2021) The amount of life insurance payouts in the United States reached a single-year high in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, while a year-to-year increase became the highest since the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, research by the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) revealed on Thursday.

"Life insurance companies paid more than $90 billion to beneficiaries of life insurance policies in 2020, the highest ever in any single year," the research said. "It also represents a 15.4 percent increase in payments over 2019, which is the largest year-to-year increase since the 1918 Influenza Epidemic."

In total, Americans have purchased over 43 million life insurance policies with total coverage of $20.

4 trillion in 2020, the report noted.

Sales of group life insurance policies, which are primarily available through employers, increased 19% from 2019 to 2020, while individual coverage increased by nearly 3%, it added.

"Industry assets in 2020 totaled $8.2 trillion, a jump from $7.6 trillion - a 7.7 percent increase," the report said.

Over 90 million American families rely on the life insurance industry for financial protection, the ACLI said. The council's 280 member companies represent 95% of industry assets in the United States, according to its website.