For immediate release
August 6, 2018

Portland, ME, August 6, 2018 … Gen Re is pleased to release the results of this year’s U.S. Medicare Supplement Market Survey, its annual industry benchmarking survey covering in-force, new sales, business performance, claim trends, lapse rates and rate filings for the U.S. market. Seventy-four companies are represented in this year’s report, including those with blocks of business that are currently open or closed, with the majority of companies managing a combination of both.

Key results from this year’s survey include:

• Across all participants, $22.2 billion in total Medicare Supplement in-force premium was reported for 2017, a growth rate of 6.3% over 2016 results.
• For companies actively selling and reporting premium and lives for both 2016 and 2017, sales premium declined by 3.9%, while lives increased by 3.3%.
• The average reported lapse rate was 9.7% for open blocks of business and 13.1% for closed blocks in 2017.
• On average, Plan F accounts for close to half of the total sales premium in 2017 and remains the most sold plan.
• Over half of the active companies who participated in the survey report selling Medicare Supplement plans on a direct-to-consumer basis (via phone, mail, online or a combination of these methods where a traditional agent receiving traditional paid compensation is not involved).
   

The Market Survey is an annual benchmark survey produced by Gen Re, with the full results available only to participating companies. A summary report is available online at genre.com/lhsurveys.

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Gen Re, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, is one of the leading life/health and property/casualty reinsurers in the world. Our North American life and health reinsurance company, General Re Life Corporation, has superior financial strength ratings among life and health reinsurers. Gen Re delivers tailor-made reinsurance programs and risk management solutions for the Life, AD&D, Medicare Supplement, Critical Illness and Disability markets. Through our research, we also offer valuable information and insights. For more information, visit www.genre.com.