WSJ: Shift to Wealthier Clientele Puts Life Insurers in a Bind

The Wall Street Journal has published an article by Mark Maremont and Leslie Scism titled "Shift to Wealthier Clientele Puts Life Insurers in a Bind."  The article analyzes a shift in the insurers' base away from middle-class households that used insurance as a "safety net" to wealthier Americans, who use it as part of their complex estate-tax plans.  Traditionally, the life insurance has been free from income taxes because it served a special "social function."  Even though, at this point, there is no proposal in Congress to curb the tax breaks on life insurance, the shift in the insurer' base and industry tax benefits are "perceived to be supporting wealth accumulation or estate planning programs for the wealthy rather than contributing to protection of widows and orphans."