In 2021, how many Americans own life, health, or disability insurance? What about pet, renters, vision, or dental insurance? Critical illness, flood, or umbrella?
What is the average monthly premium for each product?
And how do these things change by race, state, gender, and generation?
In Breeze's first annual "State of Voluntary Insurance" report, we analyze the data and answer these questions to give you a gauge of what protection today's Americans can afford to have through voluntary insurance.
The most commonly owned types of voluntary insurance
What are the most commonly owned types of voluntary insurance in 2021 and how do monthly premiums vary?
Just three insurance products — health, life, and dental — have an ownership rate over 50%.
Voluntary insurance trends by gender, race, & generation
Ownership trends for each voluntary insurance product were broken down by gender, race, and generation.
Two of the most noticeable trends included:
- Only 68% of Black respondents own health insurance, compared to 81% of Latino respondents, 82% of Asian respondents, and 84% of White respondents
- For each and every type of voluntary insurance, male respondents are far more likely to own policies compared to female respondents
Health insurance
Health insurance, one of the best employee benefits, was the most common insurance product owned by our respondents. This is no surprise as it's usually included in employer benefit packages with employers picking up some of the premium cost.
Cycle through the tabs to see breakdowns by gender, race, & generation. Only 68% of Black respondents own health insurance, while all other racial groups had at least 80% ownership.
Life insurance
How many Americans own life insurance? What's the average monthly premium?
A consumer usually buys life insurance to protect their spouse and children from financial ruin in the event he or she dies prematurely. We broke the results down by marital status and number of children.
Long term disability insurance
Long term disability insurance is a form of income protection meant to cover serious injuries and illnesses that keep someone out of work for more than three months; this also includes permanent disabilities that make returning to work impossible.
We found 32% of Americans currently own long term disability insurance.
Get a free long term disability insurance quote online in seconds.
Critical illness insurance
Not all too different from long term disability insurance, critical illness insurance provides a cash benefit if a policyholder experiences a covered illness, like cancer or a heart attack.
We found it's less popular than long term disability insurance.
Pet insurance
One of the hottest insurance products going right now, pet insurance covers a person's animal companion in the event of injury or illness.
72% of our respondents are pet owners. We asked this group if they currently own pet insurance.
Short term disability insurance
Short term disability insurance replaces a percentage of a policy holder's income, usually between 35% and 75%, if he or she experiences a temporary injury or illness that keeps them from working.
Benefits will usually last between three and six months, but some can be longer than a year. Our data showed it is not as common as long term disability insurance.
Renters insurance
Renters insurance provides a safety net for a tenant's property in the event of any damage, theft, or accidents.
44% of respondents indicated they are currently renting an apartment or home, so we asked this group if they had renters insurance.
Dental insurance
Dental insurance, as one might expect, covers the costs of teeth and gum-related issues. It is one of the most common employee benefits.
Vision insurance
Vision insurance, another common employee benefit, covers costs related to routine eye care and prescription eyewear.
Amongst poll participants, it is far less common than dental insurance.
Flood insurance
Flood insurance is a specific type of insurance product aimed to specifically protect against property loss from flooding. Costs for flood insurance are highly impacted by geography.
26% of respondents live in areas prone to flooding, and we asked this group questions about flood insurance.
Umbrella insurance
Umbrella insurance is liability insurance that serves as a catch-all meant to cover excess losses not covered by another type of insurance policy.
State-by-state voluntary insurance trends
Finally, the voluntary insurance data was broken down on a state level to gauge ownership trends and average monthly premium costs in most states and Washington D.C.
Methodology
All data found within this report derives from a survey commissioned by Breeze and conducted online by survey platform Pollfish. In total, 1,142 qualified adult Americans ages 25 or older were surveyed. The appropriate respondents were found via Pollfish’s age filtering feature. This survey was conducted on July 28th, 2021. All respondents were asked to answer all questions truthfully and to the best of their abilities.
