Description: This session at the SOA 2004 Annual Meeting looks at current underwriting issues including the tools underwriters now use for appraising risk in various markets, the impact of preferred exceptions and business decisions from a pricing and claims perspective, and new ideas for assessing risk at older ages.

Description: Presented at May 2005 Spring Meeting. Panelists discuss the insuring of the aging population in respect to assessment of the health of the insured and resulting mortality costs.

Description: Recent Population Cause of Death Trends and Implications for Life Insurance

Description: There are certain occasions when the knowledge we have gained in our jobs carries over into our personal lives. For instance, developing insurance products certainly helps when it comes time to buy an insurance policy. Recently, one of the authors had the experience of giving his 91-year-old grandmother, Nanny as she is affectionately called, an Extended Delayed Word Recall DWR test. This article will show that DWR tests are a powerful predictor of mortality in the elderly. As the population ages and more and more life insurance is being applied for at the older ages, having a DWR test in an underwriting arsenal is like comfort food for an actuary.