Product Solutions
  • Articles
  • September 2025

Promoting Inclusivity in Insurance: Product and distribution strategies

By
  • Othmane Akesbi
Pregnant couple snuggling.
In Brief

Life insurance need gaps affecting hundreds of millions globally create opportunities for insurers to develop innovative, inclusive solutions to reach underserved customers and address their needs.

Key takeaways

  • The global life insurance need gap affects hundreds of millions, highlighting the need for more inclusive protection solutions.
  • Coverage gaps are driven by a combination of real product and distribution limitations, as well as consumer awareness issues leading to misconceptions, such as overestimated insurance costs.
  • Insurers can help close the global protection gap by designing more inclusive products targeting underserved customers and addressing their protection needs, and by leveraging alternative distribution approaches to better reach them.

 

The 2025 Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) annual conference provided an opportune backdrop to discuss a challenge dogging the Canadian insurance industry – the need for more inclusive life insurance solutions to address current need gaps that leave millions of citizens with insufficient financial protection. 

In truth, that discussion would be relevant in many other countries around the world.

Inside the issue

LIMRA’s Canadian Insurance Barometer study tracks the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of Canadian consumers regarding life insurance. Among its findings:

  • Nearly a third of Canadian adults – 8.4 million people – report a life insurance need gap.1 
  • This need gap is not uniformly distributed, and is reported as higher by certain demographic segments, including women, those with lower incomes, and younger generations (See Figure 1).2 

The study also identifies the reasons the uninsured and underinsured give for lacking adequate coverage, providing insight into the challenges they currently face, and the opportunities for insurers to address them. For example, some of the reasons provided, that are particularly relevant to the topic of inclusivity, include the following:

  • “It’s too expensive” / “I have other financial priorities” – These are the two reasons with the highest response rates. Interestingly, there is a significant gap between how much people think life insurance costs and how much it actually costs. In LIMRA’s 2023 Canadian Insurance Barometer Study, over a third of respondents estimate a price more than three times the true cost. This suggests opportunities to both develop more affordable solutions and to improve consumers’ understanding of available coverage options.
  • “No one approached me” – This suggests underinsured populations may be underserved by traditional distributions channels.
  • “I wouldn’t qualify” – Again, this may be partly explained by certain customers’ misconceptions about their coverage eligibility, but likely also reflects real challenges for higher risk segments of the population, such as seniors, or people with existing or past health issues.

Figure 2 delves deeper into the reasons that Canadians provided for not owning more insurance.

Woman at a whiteboard
Learn more and discuss how we can partner to support your growth initiatives and, together, make financial protection more accessible to all.
Contact us today

A global lens

Beyond Canada, consumer survey data reflects the global nature of the life insurance need gap. For example:

  • A record number of American adults – 42%, or 100 million people – acknowledged in a 2024 survey that they either need life insurance or need more than they currently have.3  
  • In the UK, only 35% of the adult population, or nearly 35.5 million people, has some form of protection insurance, despite the fact that six in 10 households agree it would benefit their family.4
  • In Australia, 44% of the adult citizenry – approximately 9.5 million people – has no life insurance and have no intention of taking out a policy.5 

To bridge the life insurance need gap, insurers worldwide are developing more inclusive solutions leveraging three key strategies:

  1. Identifying and developing solutions targeting underserved customer segments
  2. Designing products covering under-protected conditions
  3. Exploring alternative distribution to expand the reach of insurance beyond traditional channels

The case studies below illustrate these three strategies with examples of underserved customer segments, under-protected conditions, and alternative distribution approaches observed in various solutions offered by insurers across the globe.

Case study #1: Outcome-based fertility insurance
The details – An insurance product in the US and the UK covers the costs of IVF treatments if they do not lead to the birth of a child after three cycles. The product requires a protection fee every time the beneficiary wishes to start a new cycle. From there, it covers clinic costs upfront. Upon having a child, beneficiaries repay the fixed costs of their completed cycles as a lump sum or in monthly installments for up to eight years. Further, if they decide to stop trying after the first or second cycle, they receive a discount on those costs. The product also provides support services including mental health counseling, access to Q&A sessions, breakfast meetings, and WhatsApp groups with other families undergoing IVF treatments.
Case study #2: Self-employed safety net
The details – In the Netherlands, an insurtech and digital MGA has partnered with a digital bank for self-employed workers to offer them tailored insurance products. The partnership with a digital bank targeting self-employed workers makes it easier for the insurer to reach them and offer tailored protection solutions. The digital bank's clients can easily access and purchase term life, accident, and disability insurance directly from their digital banking app.
Case study #3: Funeral insurance from the supermarket
The details – One of the largest grocery chains and retailers in Africa partnered with a South African-based insurance company to offer funeral coverage to its customers. Funeral insurance coverage options available include a paid insurance product available for purchase from the retailer, as well as a complimentary embedded benefit offered to qualifying loyalty plan members who meet predefined spending requirements.
Case study #4: Protection for mother and baby
The details –These two plans, one designed to protect mothers and the other to protect their children, include coverage for maternal mental health and juvenile developmental disorders. The first product includes both mother and child benefits. A first-in-market psychotherapy benefit is available for mothers diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorders (MDD) or Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) prior to delivery and up to one year after. Other benefits for mothers cover pregnancy complication, hospitalization, maternity cancer, infectious disease, and death benefits. Other child benefits include compassionate care, incubation, phototherapy treatment for neonatal jaundice, congenital condition, infectious disease, and death benefits. The second product includes child benefits up to age 18 and covers child developmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and severe Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as well as a child illness benefit covering 10 conditions.
Case study #5: Embedded life insurance with a savings account
The details – A US-based digital insurance company launched an innovative embedded protection solution made available to other financial institutions. Banks and credit unions can offer their deposit customers this free insurance perk, in which they automatically receive life insurance coverage equal to 10% of their deposits, up to $20,000. Once the financial institution incorporates the product into designated accounts, account holders automatically qualify for coverage simply by maintaining their account, with no medical exam required. The benefit is open to anyone from ages 18 to 79.
Case study #6: Cancer protection for cancer survivors
The details – This product in Singapore covers recurrence or new diagnosis of early, intermediate, or advanced stage cancer. For early or intermediate stage cancer, it pays out 15% of sum assured. For advanced stage cancer, it pays out 100% of the sum assured, less any early or intermediate stage cancer claim paid previously. Other key features include free child coverage to address concerns about hereditary predispositions: 15% payment of the sum assured should the child be diagnosed with any advanced stage cancer; premium waiver for 24 months after an early or intermediate stage cancer claim to help policyholders focus on recovery while undergoing medical treatments; a death benefit that pays out 15% of the sum assured.

Conclusion: Your next step

As these case studies demonstrate, forward-thinking insurers are exploring new ways to bridge the life insurance gap by developing novel products and distribution approaches to meet underserved customer needs and address access challenges.

Contact us today to learn more and discuss how we can partner to support your growth initiatives and, together, make financial protection more accessible to all.

More Like This...

Meet the Authors & Experts

Othmane Akesbi
Author
Othmane Akesbi
Vice President, Global Product Initiatives

References

  1. https://www.limra.com/en/research/research-abstracts-public/2024/canadian-life-insurance-barometer/
  2. https://www.limra.com/en/research/research-abstracts-public/2024/canadian-life-insurance-barometer/
  3. https://www.limra.com/en/newsroom/news-releases/2024/u.s.-life-insurance-need-gap-grows-in-2024
  4. https://www.directlinegroup.co.uk/en/news/brand-news/2022/05102022.html
  5. https://cali.org.au/financial-security-takes-back-seat-exposing-advice-crisis-as-australians-prefer-to-protect-cars-over-themselves/