A sizable portion of U.S. adults are not buying life insurance because in many cases it is too expensive, according to a new study.
Almost two-fifths of Americans (37 percent) do not have a life insurance policy, according to a recent survey sponsored by InsuranceQuotes, with the most commonly cited reason being that they cannot afford it.
Among the uninsured respondents in the study, 59 percent reported not buying insurance because of the associated expense.
Household income is a strong predictor of insurance coverage. Most respondents with more than $75,000 in annual income (78 percent) had purchased life insurance policies. Almost three-quarters of households with annual incomes between $50,000 and $75,000 reported having life insurance policies.
More than half of the survey’s uninsured respondents (51 percent) said they do not own a life insurance policy because they believe they are healthy enough not to need coverage. According to InsuranceQuotes, most uninsured millennials said their health as their No. 1 reason for not seeking coverage.
The uninsured tend to be young. Almost two-thirds of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 do not have any form of life insurance, compared with 29 percent of respondents ages 30 to 49 and 26 percent ages 50 to 64.
One-third of the survey’s uninsured respondents believe that shopping for life insurance is too difficult or confusing
The uninsured also have lower levels of education. Just 26 percent of respondents without insurance policies were college graduates, and another 34 percent reported having some college education. At the same time, 72 percent of the insured respondents reported graduating from college.
Most of the survey’s respondents prioritized purchasing food and utilities, saving money and paying down debt over buying life insurance.