4. Life Insurance: E. Underwriting and Reinsurance Flashcards
Why will pricing of life insurance products not take into account all of an individual’s relevant factors?
- The assessment of health is imperfect
- Insurance involves the pooling of risks
- The cost of doing so would be prohibitive
3 Stages of the underwriting process
- Class Selection
- Evaluation of the proposal and any other medical or financial information requested by the company
- Consider the incidence and intensity of the risk and translate this into the special terms to be offered (if the proposal is accepted on special terms)
Process of class selection
This involves the choice of the target market and the method in which the product is to be sold.
Evaluation of the proposal can lead to the company:
- Accepting the proposal on standard terms
- Accepting on special terms
- Postponing the decision
- Rejecting the proposal
8 Sources of information available to the office
- Proposal form
- Primary medical attendant’s report
- Specific conditions questionnaire
- Medical examination
- Specialist medial report
- AIDS supplementary questionnaire
- Reinsurers underwriting manuals
- Financial questionnaire
Contents of the proposal form (5)
- Contract details
- Details of the insured
- The insured’s medical or financial history
- Declaration by the proposer
- Debit order instruction
Primary medical attendant’s report (PMAR)
A report requested from the insured’s doctor requesting information on:
- Any past illnesses
- Whether the insured is currently undergoing any treatment
Under what normal conditions will the PMAR be requested
If:
- the sum assured exceeds certain limits
- the proposal form suggests that further medical information is required
Specific conditions questionnaire
An additional questionnaire which aims to collect more information on specific conditions (medical).
Medical examination aims
Aims at collecting information on current medical status that is unlikely to appear on a PMAR.
Under what normal conditions will a medical examination be requested
- The sum assured exceeds certain limits
- Other medical evidence already collected suggest that further medical information is required
Special medical report
Covers things such as blood tests, chest X-rays, ECG’s etc.
Under what normal conditions will the Specialist medical report be requested
- The sum assured exceeds certain limits
- Other medical evidence already collected suggests that further medical information is required
AIDS supplementary questionnaire
This seeks further information on lifestyle to help assess the AIDS risk.
Reinsurers underwriting manuals
These manuals are produced by most reinsurers and contain a section on each medical condition explaining:
- The nature of the condition
- The medical information required by the underwriter
- A description of how to convert medical information into an appropriate measure of the risk.