Description: This article explores implications for the future of improving the application of existing underwriting techniques and and taking maximum advantage of new technologies.

Description: The sentinel effect in the underwriting process refers to the tendency for unhealthy individuals to apply for insurance coverage where testing is not performed. The article reports on evidence of the effect with respect to cocaine and tobacco use and HIV positive prevalence

Description: Ways of closing the mortality protection gap, by leveraging some of the new technology, data and analytics to reduce the friction in the buying process.

Description: discussion of risk management and proper pricing of life insurance products.

Description: A discussion of the value a reinsurer can provide beyond assistance through coinsurance with XXX compliance. There are recent signs that the use of coinsurance and the inherent shift of the burden of the reserves to the reinsurers are putting stress on the reinsurers’ capacity limitations. Reinsurers are able to shoulder only so much of the burden of the reserve strain caused by Regulation XXX. What reinsurers do best, and know best, though, is mortality risk. If your company is seeing signs from your reinsurers that this is the case, this article will present some thoughts to consider as to why sales of level term products may still be acceptable, even without the support of coinsurance programs.

Description: This article explains why stochastic modeling is becoming more pervasive, and describes a specific stochastic application with metrics to measure results.

Description: Recent advances in mortality modeling have enabled applicant-specific quantification of mortality risk in life insurance applicants using laboratory and physical measurements. Relative to more conventional underwriting, this approach identifies a small population of significantly under-priced policy and a much larger, cross-subsidizing group whose risk is presently overestimated. Applicants placed in the highest percentile by this scoring methodology are more than 10X as likely to die in a given period as their demographic peers, and represent approximately 5% of short-term claims. Implications for product design are substantial in both the short- and long-term, as the possibilities for adverse selection grow, and the opportunity for fully individualized pricing raises the more distant prospect of products with as many rate classes as applicants.

Description: The purpose of this article is to discuss potential issues and considerations that may be encountered with the implementation of VM 20. Crucial considerations include the modeling software used, validation effort, assumptions used, complexity of the process, documentation, and run time. A key takeaway is that an integrated modeling platform with solid automation and asset-liability capabilities is imperative for addressing the issues and considerations encountered.

Description: Discussion of possible hedging strategies for offsetting the investment risk for variable annuities, especially those with guaranteed benefits.

Description: A discussion of risk-relevant resources available at the Society of Actuaries Risk Management Task Force Web site