According to our annual U.S. Voluntary/Worksite Sales Report, new business annualized premium (voluntary sales) for 2015 was $7.138 billion, up 3.6 percent over 2014 sales. The graph (below left) shows the industry's sales since 1997.

The voluntary market is one of the only insurance industry segments that has seen consistent growth year over year. The only year to see a decrease was 2010, and that was mostly due to the impact of implementing — or trying to implement — Affordable Care Act provisions. The graph at the bottom of the page shows the growth curve between 2004 and 2015.

Based on our industry research with employers, employees, producers, and carriers, we expect sales to continue growing at a level between 3 percent and 6 percent for the next few years.