Description: An overview of Electronic Health Records and how they will enhance risk assessment and automated underwriting in the US.

Description: Critical illness insurance is a popular supplemental health insurance product in the U.S. market. This article discusses how carriers have recently sought to add value by expanded the benefits offered in their critical illness products. Specifically, the article discusses the consumer need and development considerations of adding benefits for autism Spectrum Disorder, Mental health disorders, Specified Disease Coverage, and enhance Cancer Coverage to a critical illness contract.

Description: Article discusses the mechanics of index-linked annuities and the growth of RILAs

Description: Description of the mathematics involved when looking at low probability events within a company from the perspective of the C-Suite. The accumulation of small probability events leads to a much higher probability of at least one of them happening in a given period.

Description: Accelerated underwriting expert, Ryan Holt, FSA, gives a brief history of the confusion matrix and how its use came into the accelerated underwriting space. An in depth discussion of estimating mortality impact using underwriting audits follows. Three key assumptions that effect mortality impact are discussed. Readers will leave with an understanding of how to estimate mortality impacts using audit results from any new under writing program as well as the considerations that should be taken around key assumptions. Background articles are provided for readers that are less familiar with the subject matter.

Description: A paper demonstrating how to obviate the need for market timing strategies in variable annuity products by judicious use of product design. The paper presents the premise behind the product design, provides numerical examples, then explores possible extensions of the concept to produce more sophisticated variable annuity plans based on guarantees of investment outcomes.

Description: The article discusses the continued popularity of indexed UL insurance and possible reasons why a company's actual indexed UL earnings may be below their original pricing expectations for the product. The article discusses several key items that may be the source of that underperformance (e.g., hedge ineffectiveness, policyholder behavior) and the need to monitor earnings and perform analyses to better understand those potential sources.

Description: Milliman was engaged by the SOA to conduct two Accelerated Underwriting (AU) surveys, one of direct companies and another of reinsurers. The surveys explored actual results from 2019–2021 and expected results from 2022.

Description: This article delves into the transformative realm of Business Intelligence (BI) tools. We explore the fundamental functionality and structure of these tools, and through case studies illustrate how they offer valuable insights into carrier experience and underwriting dynamics. From real-time data visualization to in-depth data analysis, discover the essential features that empower businesses to make better informed decisions.

Description: A look back over 20 years to see how product topics of the day have changed and remained the same.