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Insurance AuditTrends and Attitudes on Health, Home and Auto
August 2009
Executive Summary
Discussions on health care, changes in
the economy and reductions in employer
insurance coverage are affecting how
Americans are learning about and purchasinginsurance products. Consumers view the
three categories of Health, Property and
Casualty, and Life Insurance differently and
they use different sources to get information
and make purchases. The latest Nielsen
Insurance Audit from Nielsen Claritas
(released every two years) identifies some
of the emerging insurance trends (such as
a decline in life and health insurance) and
purchasing behaviors with American
consumers. The study collected responses
from more than 35,000 consumers in May
and June of 2009.
Health Insurance
Given the proposal of a public health plan,
consumers were asked if they would prefer a
less expensive yet less comprehensive public
health plan subsidized by the government
to a privatized insurance plan that offered
more benefits and flexibility. It appearsthat although the private plan was the plan
of choice, many of the respondents (40%)
could not commit to an answer without
further information about what the details
of the plan would include. It is imperative
that health insurance carriers start to
increase their brand awareness, value
proposition and targeting efforts so that
consumers make the most informed decisions
once a public plan becomes available.
When we drill down into the penetration
of different medical insurance types, the
study notes that overall medical insuranc
is down slightly, but dental and vision
insurance are higher—an interesting findiis that for both vision and dental, it’s the
employer-based coverage that is down, b
individual coverage is up—so when consum
lose their coverage from work, they fill th
gap on their own. Heath Savings Account
and Flexible Spending Accounts are also bo
up but not from individual plan purchase
In this case, employers are increasing bene
and stepping up these offerings. The sam
scenario is also true for critical illness coverag
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2005
2007
2009
MedicalInsurance
Catastrophic CriticalIllness
Dental Vision FlexibleSpending
HSA
P e r c e n t a g e o f H H
O w n e r s h i p
72
8078
2118 19
2219 20
48
53 52
42
47 47
1215 16
68
10
Percentage of Household Ownership—Health Insurance
Don’t Know40%
Private Plan36%
Subsidized24%
Subsidized Public vs. Private—
Health Insurance
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Property and Casualty Insurance
With regard to shopping and switching
coverage, some consumers kept their
options open to new offers, with 46% of
the respondents saying they have shopped
for auto insurance in the past three years.
However, only one quarter of those
respondents reported actually switching
carriers during that time. In addition, only16% of residential insurance customers
changed carriers in the past three years.
Most respondents statedthat they would be
willing to pay a little more for auto insurance
if it means they get better coverage; with 52%
of theparticipants eitherstrongly agreeing (15%)
or agreeingsomewhat (37%). Interestingly,
45% of the respondents said they actually
did have their auto and home insurance
policies with the same insurance company.
And good news for carriers who offer
both auto and residential coverage to their
customers: 62% of respondents would
prefer to have their auto and residential
insurance at the same carrier. The majority
of respondents surveyed (73% selected
8-10 on a 10-point scale where 10 is
extremely likely to recommend) said they
would be extremely likely to recommend
their primary auto and residential insurance
carrier to friends and family. Insurance
companies with a referral program will likely
benefit from this feeling of satisfaction
and goodwill.
Life Insurance
Despite the aging population, the percentage
of households with life insurance policies
has decreased steadily from 2005. Individual
life policies have also experienced declines(i.e., whole, universal life and variable life)
but individual term policies remained constant
between 2007 and 2009 at 23%. Reasons
for this could be that fewer employers are
offering life insurance as part of their benefit
packages or due to rising unemployment.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
2005
2007
2009
Any Life Employer-based
Life
Term Life WholeLife
UniversalLife
VariableLife
Final/FuneralExpense
P e r c e n t a g e o f H H
O w n e r s h i p
68
CCardMortga
Life
67
62
39
4442
29
23 23
3025
22
8 8 75 4
8 9 97 8 8
Percentage of Household Ownership—Life Insurance
For more information call (800) 234-5973 or visit us at www.nielsen.com
© 2009 The Nielsen Company. All rights reserved.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
CaptiveAgent
Whole
Term
IndependentAgent
Direct-Phone
Direct-Internet
Employer
37
34
20 20
11 11
17 1719
23
P e
r c e n t a g e o f H H
F u t u r e C h a n n e l P r e f e r e n c e
Future Channel Preference For Individual Life Insurance
lack of the personal relationship with the
agent—particularly when trying to influenc
the decision to purchase these policies fo
the first time. With penetration rates for
life insurance policies declining, insurance
carriers will need to deal with multiple
issues to grow this business, including achallenging economy, lack of importance a
part of retirement and investment plannin
Agent recommendations and covering
final/funeral expenses topped the list of
reasons why individual life insurance policies
were purchased. However, future channel
preference for both types of policies moved
away from the agent. More consumers want to
purchase life insurance through direct channelsand their employer compared to 2007.
Insurance companies will have to increase
relationships with employers, offer alternative
direct channel options and provide clear
educational materials to make up for the
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