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Protecting Rural Roots With Every Insurance Policy Sold

Author

Denise McCauley
Chair, President & Chief Executive Officer, WoodmenLife

October 2025

The U.S. economy has fluctuated significantly over the past five years, with 2025 proving especially challenging for Americans across socioeconomic backgrounds. Following a brief recession after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced a period of rapid growth, with rising employment rates — alongside a sharp increase in inflation. Since the start of 2025, consumer spending and job growth have slowed significantly, with little correlating decline in inflation, creating financial uncertainty and hardship for many Americans. While the impact might not be felt as acutely in urban areas with greater access to basic resources, rural Americans have been seriously impacted by real issues: the high cost of energy, food insecurity, housing shortages, and limited access to healthcare.

The Congressional Budget Office reports that while urban price inflation was 3.7 percent between 2019 and 2021, the rural rate was 4.8 percent. In the last five years, prices have increased 22.8 percent, with food up 28.7 percent and housing up 55.4 percent.

These trends have widened the protection gap in rural markets, signaling a strategic opportunity for life insurers to provide financial stability and long-term security. Supporting individuals and families in these areas to help mitigate the impacts of a fluctuating economy is essential, and life insurers are uniquely positioned to address this protection gap by developing tailored products, improving distribution strategies, and investing in outreach.

Community-Focused Coverage

Beyond business growth, life insurance represents a social responsibility. Insurers who can strategically address the policy needs of this population have the opportunity to grow business while supporting fellow Americans who most need it. Here are some ways insurance policies can help:

  1. Rural Americans are working harder and logging more hours than they ever have, and this, coupled with limited access to robust healthcare infrastructures, impacts life expectancy. PBS News states, “Living in rural areas, with their relatively sparse populations, often means a shortage of doctors, longer travel distances for medical care and inadequate investments in public health, driven partly by declines in economic opportunities.”

    For rural families, the sudden death of a loved one could mean the loss of their business or farm. This affects not only their livelihoods but often the rest of the community, via job loss or food shortages. Outreach and education in these communities by insurers can go a long way toward mitigating the effects of poverty.

    Take this finding from the MDPI: “Though a need for life insurance exists among rural households, urban households are more likely to own life insurance. Considering that farm owners and operators are exposed to death by injuries, respiratory disease, and stomach cancer at a higher rate than the US population, the lower prevalence of life insurance ownership among rural households suggests that some rural farm-owning households are failing to take advantage of risk transference strategies.”

    By taking time to educate potential customers on the ways life insurance can offset financial hardship and supply lasting security for one’s family or business, life insurance agents can demonstrate why buying a policy can’t wait.

  2. A life insurance benefit can protect a family’s legacy. Studies show a steady disparity in income between rural and urban areas in the U.S. since the 1960s, when poverty rates were first recorded. The USDA estimates that individuals in rural communities currently earn 25 percent less annually than their urban counterparts, on average.

    How does that affect a legacy?

    Whether a person wants to leave their farm, business, home, or way of life behind for their loved ones, it takes financial security to make it possible. For the cost of a monthly life insurance premium, everyday Americans can support their families after they pass. Benefits could be used to keep the family business afloat, send the next generation to college or trade school, or guarantee that their spouse and children have enough to stay in their home and put food on the table.

    Educating rural citizens about policies that are tailored to their unique needs is essential for insurers seeking to grow their consumer base in these communities. Agents should talk to local business owners and farmers about policies that make sense for their lives, beyond the basic term-life insurance options.

  3. Life insurance professionals affiliated with fraternal organizations can participate in community outreach through their company. Company-sponsored, in-person events are a great way to interact with potential customers and share the lesser-known financial and practical resources membership offers — like scholarships, contributions to food banks, support for veterans and first responders, supplying volunteers for community projects, and rewards programs that give member discounts on purchases from groceries to cars, furniture, and even homes. These incentives can help potential members see the inherent value in owning a policy.

Conclusion

Life insurance offers benefits to rural Americans that far outweigh the cost of a policy — or the cost of losing one’s life or livelihood. Insurers who understand the unique challenges these consumers face can help rural Americans gain traction in a shifting economic landscape and keep their families and businesses supported, whatever comes their way.

Denise McCauley also serves on LIMRA and LOMA’s Board of Directors.

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