This Heart Month, we examine three contributing factors insurers can consider when reviewing a life insurance applicant’s laboratory and medical history. We also highlight some early research that has been published on what complications COVID-19 may cause to the cardiovascular system.
How much do different factors influence COVID-19 mortality risk versus all-cause mortality risk? RGA’s Global Data Insights team set out to answer this question through a thorough analysis and comparison of COVID-19 and all-cause mortality risk factors for the population of England.
With an estimated 90% of the world’s data collected in the last two years, digital strategies are evolving rapidly. But how do we make business decisions with all the data that is available? What does it mean for underwriting?
Is diabetes more deadly for women and the young? Recent research, jointly undertaken by RGA and MIB, examines mortality and morbidity indicators for diabetics based, for the first time, on both MIB’s impairment records and RGA’s prescription drug history information.
Research suggests that the cause of rising incidence rates of cancer in adolescents and young adults relate to the increasing prevalence of obesity, the consumption of a Westernized diet, and leading a sedentary lifestyle. A focus on lifestyle and dietary habits of young insurance applicants would provide useful insights into the top modifiable risk factors for cancer and help stem the inevitable rising rates of claims for cancer.
Over the last 5 years, the life insurance industry has experienced an exponential growth in accelerated underwriting (AUW) programs. As the life insurance underwriting process continues to provide less invasive accelerated pathways, insurers increasingly rely on self-disclosed information for key risk factors instead of observed measures under traditional underwriting, such as smoking status and build.
Here is an inside look on how life insurance solution providers adapted and innovated to these new challenges in 2020.
Several underwriting tools have been adopted by carriers to issue coverage faster, in many cases without the need for insurance exams or requirements such as a traditional APS. Some of these tools are new, while others have been in use previously, but have recently been enhanced to streamline the underwriting process.
Applying Modern Biotechnology to Life Insurance Underwriting
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