PORTLAND, MAINE, USA:  John Hewitt and Associates, Inc. (JHA) has released the results of the 2003 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-nine disability insurance carriers participated in this year’s survey, including the top twenty carriers, as ranked by the 2002 JHA U.S. Group Disability Market Survey.

According to the survey, combined U.S. group disability mid-year sales premium (STD & LTD) decreased approximately 3% over mid-year 2002, to just over $1.1 billion.  New sales premium for LTD was down about 1%, to $788 million.  New STD sales decreased 7%, to $335 million.

Combined (STD & LTD) group disability earned premium at mid-year increased nearly 6%, reaching $4.9 billion.  Participating companies reported a 6% increase in both LTD and STD earned premium.  With an approximate 1% increase, the total number of insured employees remained fairly level for LTD, while a slight decrease of 1% was observed for STD.

The top ten carriers accounted for approximately 81% of new LTD sales premium and about 76% of new STD sales premium, a slight decrease when compared to the first half of 2002.

“Although overall industry sales are down compared to mid-year 2002, sales results of individual companies fall across a broad spectrum, ranging from significant increases to sharp decreases,” said Drew King, President of JHA.  “Group disability players appear to be implementing their own growth strategies, based on their strategic objectives and underwriting results.  There does seem to be a trend toward writing smaller cases, especially in STD.  It will be interesting to see if these trends are confirmed in the full-year results.”

For more information, please contact Lisa Bolduc at (207) 874-2261.