The total Direct Written Premium for the Life insurance marketplace in Massachusetts is $3,796,156,852
Life Insurance has a long history in Massachusetts
In comparison with other lines of insurance, the Life Insurance marketplace is one of the largest lines of insurance in Massachusetts and one of the most established. It also has a long history here in the Commonwealth, starting with the first Commissioner of Insurance of Massachusetts, Elizur Wright. A multi-talented individual, Mr. Wright, along with his daughter, modernized the life-insurance industry by developing the mathematical calculations and tables that culminated in the publishing of his “Life Insurance Valuation Tables” in 1853.
Five years later in 1858, Mr. Wright was successful in securing an act of the Massachusetts Legislature which organized an insurance commission for the Commonwealth and which included a requirement of the annual valuation of the policy liabilities of all life insurance companies in the state. To learn more about Mr. Wright’s inventions and work both in and out of insurance, please refer to Agency Checklists’ April 12, 2015 article entitled, “Who Was The First Commissioner Of Insurance In Massachusetts?“
A total of 281 insurers write this line of insurance in Massachusetts
There are two hundred and eighty-one (281) insurers that are licensed to write Life Insurance in Massachusetts, two less than in 2017, and 76 less than in 2016. There are also only two life insurers that call Massachusetts home – the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, better known as MassMutual, and The Savings Bank Mutual Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts.
For example, Woburn-based The Savings Bank Mut Life Ins Co Of Massachusetts was actually founded by former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis in 1907. The following excerpt from the company’s website gives more insight into Justice Brandeis’ mission in creating this company:
Louis Brandeis, who by the early 1900s was already known as “the people’s lawyer” for his refusal to accept payment for any cases he felt was in the public interest, felt this system inflicted a grave injustice on the very people who needed life insurance the most. It was, in his words, “legalized robbery. So he set out to invent a new way of providing life insurance. One that would give families a low-cost, trustworthy alternative to traditional life insurance. The result was SBLI, a company founded with an explicit mission to make life insurance accessible, affordable, and reliable for all who needed it.
For its part, MassMutual, also has an impressive history here in Massachusetts, where it has has been selling life insurance since its founding in Springfield on May 15, 1851.
Premium and market share for the Top 20 insurers…
Turning back to our market share report, the Total Direct Written Premium for all Life Insurers operating in the Commonwealth in 2018 was $3,796,156,852 – just a bit more than the $3,779,312,339 written in the Commonwealth during 2017.
Some more data that you might find interesting about this line of insurance:
- The top 20 insurers wrote approximately $2,483,080,171 in Direct Written Premium in 2018 out of the total.
- This amount represents a 65.4% share of the marketplace based upon the total amount of Direct Written Premium written in 2018 ($3,796,156,852).
- The remaining 261 companies had a Direct Written Premium total of $1,313,076,681 representing the remaining 34.6% of the marketplace.
The largest writers of Life Insurance in Massachusetts
| NAIC# | Company Name | State | Premium Written in MA | Market Share in MA |
| 67091 | 1. Northwestern Mut Life Ins Co | WI | $288,956,201 | 7.61% |
| 66915 | 2. New York Life Ins Co | NY | $234,183,856 | 6.17% |
| 65978 | 3. Metropolitan Life Ins Co | NY | $225,735,321 | 5.95% |
| 65935 | 4. Massachusetts Mut Life Ins Co | MA | $204,455,315 | 5.39% |
| 65676 | 5. Lincoln Natl Life Ins Co | IN | $193,261,559 | 5.09% |
| 65838 | 6. John Hancock Life Ins Co USA | MI | $168,752,533 | 4.45% |
| 64246 | 7. Guardian Life Ins Co Of Amer | NY | $162,830,961 | 4.29% |
| 70435 | 8. The Savings Bank Mut Life Ins Co Of | MA | $155,685,125 | 4.10% |
| 79227 | 9. Pruco Life Ins Co | AZ | $124,541,631 | 3.28% |
| 68241 | 10. Prudential Ins Co Of Amer | NJ | $112,838,900 | 2.97% |
| 87726 | 11. Brighthouse Life Ins Co | DE | $92,218,660 | 2.43% |
| 65315 | 12. Liberty Life Assur Co Of Boston | NH | $80,803,569 | 2.13% |
| 70815 | 13. Hartford Life & Accident Ins Co | CT | $75,133,307 | 1.98% |
| 91596 | 14. New York Life Ins & Ann Corp | DE | $57,483,076 | 1.51% |
| 60488 | 15. American Gen Life Ins Co | TX | $56,713,104 | 1.49% |
| 67466 | 16. Pacific Life Ins Co | NE | $51,810,932 | 1.36% |
| 62235 | 17. Unum Life Ins Co Of Amer | ME | $50,842,928 | 1.34% |
| 66168 | 18. Minnesota Life Ins Co | MN | $49,284,846 | 1.30% |
| 65498 | 19. Life Ins Co Of N Amer | PA | $48,785,692 | 1.29% |
| 65005 | 20. Riversource Life Ins Co | MN | $48,762,655 | 1.28% |
The Life All Lines Category is an even bigger marketplace…
In addition to the above table outlining all of the life insurance companies operating in Massachusetts, the Division also publishes a couple of additional lists focused on the life insurance marketplace. So as to give a broader view of this market, Agency Checklists is also including in the report, a look at the largest insurers in the “Life All Lines” category. It is worth noting that this appears to be an even larger marketplace than just the “Life” insurance marketplace.
Premium and market share…
A total of 287 insurers are licensed as “Life All Lines” insurers in Massachusetts. In comparison to Life Insurance market discussed above, the Life All Lines marketplace is more than double the size of that marketplace with Total Direct Written Premium in 2018 totaling $16,794,818,025.
Of this group, only one “Massachusetts-based” insurer is part of this select group: MassMutual. Claiming the top spot on the list, Springfield-based MassMutual first moved up to the top spot in 2016 and has held this position ever since.
Some more data that you might find interesting about this line of insurance:
- The top 20 insurers claim more than half the market share with their Direct Written Premium totaling $11,629,542,449.
- This amount represents a 69.2% market share, up from the 63% market share this group held in 2017.
- As for the remaining 267 companies, they have a 30.8% share of the market with $5,165,275,576 dollars in Direct Written Premium.
The largest insurers in the “Life All Lines” category…
| NAIC# | Company Name | State | Premium Written in MA | Market Share in MA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65935 | Massachusetts Mut Life Ins Co | MA | $2,132,566,147 | 12.70% |
| 86509 | Voya Retirement Ins & Ann Co | CT | $1,216,314,152 | 7.24% |
| 65978 | Metropolitan Life Ins Co | NY | 859,558,493 | 5.12% |
| 65838 | John Hancock Life Ins Co USA | MI | 857,557,320 | 5.11% |
| 65056 | Jackson Natl Life Ins Co | MI | 776,419,662 | 4.62% |
| 69345 | Teachers Ins & Ann Assoc Of Amer | NY | 722,617,003 | 4.30% |
| 91596 | New York Life Ins & Ann Corp | DE | 599,405,826 | 3.57% |
| 65676 | Lincoln Natl Life Ins Co | IN | 560,697,380 | 3.34% |
| 61271 | Principal Life Ins Co | IA | 522,519,689 | 3.11% |
| 68241 | Prudential Ins Co Of Amer | NJ | 389,074,269 | 2.32% |
| 67091 | Northwestern Mut Life Ins Co | WI | 352,870,405 | 2.10% |
| 66915 | New York Life Ins Co | NY | 345,906,596 | 2.06% |
| 61689 | Athene Ann & Life Co | IA | 339,801,650 | 2.02% |
| 60488 | American Gen Life Ins Co | TX | 297,730,651 | 1.77% |
| 79227 | Pruco Life Ins Co | AZ | 295,251,015 | 1.76% |
| 62944 | AXA Equitable Life Ins Co | NY | 295,139,311 | 1.76% |
| 66869 | Nationwide Life Ins Co | OH | 294,153,726 | 1.75% |
| 90611 | Allianz Life Ins Co Of N Amer | MN | 275,636,198 | 1.64% |
| 91642 | Forethought Life Ins Co | IN | 253,453,888 | 1.51% |
| 65005 | RiverSource Life Ins Co | MN | 242,869,068 | 1.45% |
Just a friendly reminder that all of our information comes courtesy of the Division of Insurance and includes data from 2018, the last year for which complete information is available.
Links to other 2020 Massachusetts Market Share Reports
- 2020 MA Market Share Report | Top 20 Auto Insurers
- 2020 MA Market Share Report | Top Commercial Auto Insurers
- 2020 MA Market Share Report | Top 20 Fire Insurance
- 2020 MA Market Share Report | Top 20 Homeowners’ Insurers
- 2020 MA Market Share Report | Top Aircraft (All Perils) Insurers
- 2020 MA Market Share Report | Workers’ Comp Insurers
