This is the last in our series of columns on the industryresults for 2011. The first article looked at overall voluntarysales for 2011. The second column looked at sales by product andplatform. This final one spotlights sales by distribution segment.Total voluntary sales for 2011 was $5.478 billion (up 4.5 percentover 2010), according to our annual U.S. Worksite/Voluntary SalesReport.

The benefit broker segment continues to account for the largestportion of worksite/voluntary sales—55 percent in 2011, up from 52percent in 2010. It was also the only segment that realized anincrease in sales in 2011. Career agents had the second highestshare again this year, but their total sales were down slightly.The chart below shows the full annualized sales by distributionsegment and their increase or decrease as compared to 2010.

If there was any question about whether benefit brokers areembracing voluntary more now than before health care reform, thevoluntary sales results should remove all doubt. Benefit brokershave made their mark and are continuing to drive this market. Inaddition, with health care reform and the slowly improving economy,we anticipate that voluntary sales will continue to grow.