Underwriting

Body mass index is an important driver of risk class and stands as the second largest concern for misrepresentation in accelerated underwriting after smoking non-disclosure.

Underwriting advocacy to navigate the new world is as critical as the digital processes itself.

Consider the standard “AA” or age and amounts table. Lockdowns and stay-at-home measures are making collecting fluids and conducting parameds less feasible, yet underwriters still base the decision to order evidence on an age and policy face amounts table that has not changed substantially in decades. The result? Insurers often order evidence unnecessarily or waive needed requirement.

Putting together the health effects of nicotine and the chemical components of regular commercial e-cigarette inhalants leads to a conclusion that the risk is small but not trivial.

There are a lot of changes happening in the life insurance industry because of COVID-19—market environment, types of insurance products, processes, and technology.
 

Smartphone addiction: Is this a legitimate disorder or just a trendy catch phrase? Some are calling it the new addiction of the 21st Century.

Head and neck cancers were the eighth most common cancers worldwide in 2018 and accounted for 3% of all cancer diagnoses and about 1.5% of cancer deaths in the U.S. alone. Epidemiologist Dr. Lauren Garfield discusses well known and emerging risk factors, survival rates, and more in ReFlections. 

The author makes the case that the new underwriting strategies will continue after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Underwriters and claims assessors should aim to keep up to date with the evolving management of mental health conditions to ensure risk and claims assessments are dealt with accurately and fairly to prevent stigma perpetuation.

Post-human underwriting? In On the Risk, RGA's Dr. Dihui Lai discusses the current state of artificial intelligence and the potential for machine learning, optical character recognition and deep neural networks to augment, but not replace, traditional life underwriting tasks.