PORTLAND, MAINE:  John Hewitt and Associates, Inc. (JHA) has released the results of the 2002 Mid-Year U.S. Group Disability Market Survey.  The survey reports group Long Term Disability (LTD)  and Short Term Disability (STD) insured sales and earned premium results for the first half of the year.  Thirty-five disability insurance carriers participated in this year’s survey, including the top twenty carriers, as ranked by the 2001 JHA U.S. Group Disability Market Survey.

Survey results indicate that combined U.S. group disability mid-year sales premium (STD & LTD) increased approximately 6% over mid-year 2001, reaching over $1.1 billion.  New sales premium for LTD was up 12%, to $787 million.  STD sales decreased 5%, to $357 million.

Combined group disability earned premium at mid-year increased close to 8%, reaching $4.6 billion.  Participating companies reported a 7% increase in LTD earned premium and an 8% increase in STD earned premium.  With a modest 1% increase, the total number of insured employees remained level for LTD, while an increase of 5% was reported for STD.

The top ten carriers again captured the majority of the market share in the first half of 2002, generating approximately 84% of new LTD sales premium and about 82% of new STD sales premium.

“After posting a significant increase at mid-year 2001, STD sales appear to be trending down in 2002.  This could be due, in part, to some level of rate strengthening in the STD market, as new STD premium per life is up about 6%,” said Drew King, President of JHA. “LTD sales are showing strong growth at

mid-year, up approximately 12%, which appears to be driven by activity in the large employer market.  It will be interesting to see how these trends affect overall industry sales and premium growth during the second half of the year.”

For more information, please contact Marcy Updike at (207) 874-2261.