Underwriting

Slides from this presentation, given at the 2018 ACSW Spring Meeting, have been posted at the Actuaries’ Club of the Southwest website.

Progress in genomics is creating opportunities and threats for medical underwriting in both health and life insurance.

“Deaths of Despair,” an article recently appearing in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), should have red flags flying throughout the underwriting community.

Life insurance is undergoing a renaissance of sorts. The industry is slowly transforming from one entrenched in the old-age archaism of paper and manual processes to one embracing digital technology and artificial intelligence, which benefits consumers via a more enjoyable sales experience and better product pricing.

At the recent Association of Home Office Underwriters (AHOU) meeting, Executive Vice President, Betsy Sears, shared insight that our data analytics team has collected and analyzed comparing self-disclosure to positive confirmations of various laboratory tests. Our insurance clients tell us consistently that fraud is a top concern – whether intentional or unintentional applicant nondisclosure, it can cost companies millions.

As accelerated underwriting programs grow more prevalent in the industry, some carriers may feel they are falling behind. But this may be more perception than reality. The following article from RGA addresses common misconceptions around accelerated underwriting and dispels many of the myths about implementing an accelerated underwriting program

Things should certainly be looking up in terms of bronchogenic carcinoma (lung cancer).  The number one cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, less and less people are smoking than ever before.  According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) 2016 statistics, the percentage of smokers in the period since World War II has dropped from over 43 percent to under 16 percent of U.S. adults.  And newer treatments for lung cancer are being broadcast on television advertisements regularly.  It should certainly mean improved underwriting with this disease by all standards.

Conditions within a country can change rapidly at any given time. When assessing and classifying an applicant’s travel related risk, it is important for underwriters to review the relevant U.S. Department of State Travel Advisory information in its entirety.