According to LIMRA’s latest U.S. Life Insurance Ownership study, for the first time in history, more Americans are covered by employment-based life insurance than by individual life insurance. To anyone studying the workplace benefits marketplace, this is not too surprising. Life insurance is just the latest example of the importance the workplace provides Americans when it comes to receiving or obtaining many of the financial insurance products they and their families have come to rely on. Over the years, more Americans have obtained their medical, dental, vision, disability, and supplemental health products through the workplace than through retail channels.

One of the primary motivations for employers to offer benefits such as financial insurance products is they are an extremely important attraction and retention tool; one that companies will continue to use well into the future. And while the workplace benefits marketplace is expected to continue to grow, its future market potential will be limited, in large part, due to five environmental forces.

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