[Life Insurance 101 Series: This series features IMPACT posts that detail the breadth of the industry’s reach and benefits provided to consumers.]
There’s more that unites us than divides us.
Like our love for freedom. And baseball, hot dogs and apple pie, of course. Let’s not forget reality TV either.
Insurance unites us as well. Almost every adult in America has some form of insurance. Yet, it’s mostly overlooked, not surprisingly. Not a lot of pizazz in insurance. Just a lot of stability.
Stability deserves a little love too.
Insurance brings people together in ways they rarely appreciate. With an insurance company serving as the organizer, people are joined to help each other if needed. A payment for coverage – whether for life, health, auto or any other type of insurance — is a commitment not only to your financial security and your family’s, but to the financial security of neighbors and fellow Americans.
Put another way, a group of people can collectively bear costs that would be too great for any one member to handle individually.
Each form of insurance differs, from the rules governing the products to consumer protections. But they all group people together in ways that bring financially stability to all. When grouped with others sharing the goal of peace of mind, long-term financial protection is possible. Premiums paid by policyholders turn into benefits when things we didn’t want to happen befall us. Insurance is there to help us financially through the hard times.
That’s the essence of insurance.
It may be a weak premise for a reality TV show. But it is a foundation of a unified, stable and civil society.
[Up next in this series of posts: Soccer superstar Alex Morgan provides the opportunity for a lesson in life insurance underwriting.]
Jack Dolan is Vice President, Public Affairs at the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). A former journalist and Capitol Hill aide, he joined ACLI in 1991. He has represented ACLI in print, broadcast and online news outlets on a wide range of financial and retirement security issues facing American families.
