Insurance to Improve Quality of Life: Understanding and Addressing Barriers to the Financial Inclusion of Insurance
The United States is characterized by significant disparities in wealth and income. In particular, Black and Latino families disproportionately live economically fragile lives. Insurance is critical for managing the financial fragility that most households face and can also be an important source for building wealth, particularly across generations. More broadly, the idea of financial inclusion is to ensure access to financial products and services for all, including insurance, regardless of their existing net worth. As financial product accountholders, “people are more likely to use other financial services, such as savings, credit, and insurance, start and expand businesses, invest in education or health, manage risk, and weather financial shocks, all of which can improve the overall quality of their lives” (https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialinclusion/overview). During this event we will consider financial inclusion as it pertains to insurance products and services leveraging insights from existing data that tracks this information. We will further identify barriers to inclusivity in insurance product offerings and begin to discuss what can be done to address these barriers/protection gaps from an industry and regulatory perspective including lessons learned from other industry contexts. Finally, we will highlight the important role insurers play as investors in the communities in which they operate as well as the role of education involving financial and insurance literacy to close insurance protection gaps.
Learning objectives:
- Define financial inclusion broadly and as it pertains to insurance.
- Provide a snapshot of insurance protection gaps and the drivers behind them.
- Identify barriers to inclusivity in insurance product offerings and outline potential regulatory solutions to these barriers.
- Highlight the role of the insurance industry in making investments to improve a community’s quality of life and building financial literacy.
Panel Speakers:
Karl Hersch, Deloitte
Kristi Rodriguez, Nationwide Retirement Institute
Brenda Cude, NAIC Consumer Representative
Moderated by:
Jeff Czajkowski, Director, Center for Insurance Policy and Research
CIPR's special session is open to all registered NAIC 2024 Spring National Meeting participants.
About the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
As part of our state-based system of insurance regulation in the United States, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) provides expertise, data, and analysis for insurance commissioners to effectively regulate the industry and protect consumers. The U.S. standard-setting organization is governed by the chief insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. Through the NAIC, state insurance regulators establish standards and best practices, conduct peer reviews, and coordinate regulatory oversight. NAIC staff supports these efforts and represents the collective views of state regulators domestically and internationally.