Description: A review/highlights of the report on US population mortality improvements for the 4 years up to 2001

Description: The National Center For Health Statistics recently came out with preliminary 2006 U.S. population mortality statistics—showing lower mortality and a record life expectancy!

Description: This article discusses the proper slope of mortality tables, especially at the high attained ages.

Description: Highlights from the 2002 Inter-Company Expense Study of U.S. Individual Life Insurance and Annuities.

Description: Future mortality improvement has been a common assumption in life insurance and annuity pricing and forecasting for many years. However, experience over the last decade suggests this might be an assumption that merits reconsideration in the United States. This article will take a closer look at factors that impact mortality improvement trends and discuss why insurers may want to reevaluate product designs to better manage the associated mortality risk. We then introduce a product idea with this in mind, where premiums are based on a life expectancy index and insurers share the risk (and opportunity) or mortality improvement with policyholders.

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: 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: This article analyzes, understands, and discusses the impact of the upcoming Principle-Based Reserving (PBR) on non-variable deferred annuities.

Description: The paper describes a cost-benefit analysis to determine the value of electronic health records (EHRs) in life insurance accelerated underwriting programs. Sample cases from a carrier were underwritten pre-EHR and post-EHR and the mortality savings estimates from risk class changes using EHRs was compared to procurement costs. Results were developed to cover a range of scenarios. Factors to consider for carriers evaluating the cost-effectiveness of using EHRs in their own accelerated underwriting programs are also described.

Description: This article details different methods for calculating mortality impact associated with new underwriting programs. A common simplified calculation is compared and contrasted with two first principles approaches. The strengths and weaknesses of both approaches are discussed.