4. Life Insurance: E. Underwriting and Reinsurance Flashcards

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1
Q

Why will pricing of life insurance products not take into account all of an individual’s relevant factors?

A
  • The assessment of health is imperfect
  • Insurance involves the pooling of risks
  • The cost of doing so would be prohibitive
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2
Q

3 Stages of the underwriting process

A
  • 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)
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3
Q

Process of class selection

A

This involves the choice of the target market and the method in which the product is to be sold.

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4
Q

Evaluation of the proposal can lead to the company:

A
  • Accepting the proposal on standard terms
  • Accepting on special terms
  • Postponing the decision
  • Rejecting the proposal
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5
Q

8 Sources of information available to the office

A
  • Proposal form
  • Primary medical attendant’s report
  • Specific conditions questionnaire
  • Medical examination
  • Specialist medial report
  • AIDS supplementary questionnaire
  • Reinsurers underwriting manuals
  • Financial questionnaire
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6
Q

Contents of the proposal form (5)

A
  • Contract details
  • Details of the insured
  • The insured’s medical or financial history
  • Declaration by the proposer
  • Debit order instruction
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7
Q

Primary medical attendant’s report (PMAR)

A

A report requested from the insured’s doctor requesting information on:

  • Any past illnesses
  • Whether the insured is currently undergoing any treatment
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8
Q

Under what normal conditions will the PMAR be requested

A

If:

  • the sum assured exceeds certain limits
  • the proposal form suggests that further medical information is required
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9
Q

Specific conditions questionnaire

A

An additional questionnaire which aims to collect more information on specific conditions (medical).

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10
Q

Medical examination aims

A

Aims at collecting information on current medical status that is unlikely to appear on a PMAR.

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11
Q

Under what normal conditions will a medical examination be requested

A
  • The sum assured exceeds certain limits

- Other medical evidence already collected suggest that further medical information is required

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12
Q

Special medical report

A

Covers things such as blood tests, chest X-rays, ECG’s etc.

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13
Q

Under what normal conditions will the Specialist medical report be requested

A
  • The sum assured exceeds certain limits

- Other medical evidence already collected suggests that further medical information is required

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14
Q

AIDS supplementary questionnaire

A

This seeks further information on lifestyle to help assess the AIDS risk.

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15
Q

Reinsurers underwriting manuals

A

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.
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16
Q

Financial questionnaire

A

The aim is to attempt to ascertain that the amount of cover applied for is in line with the insured’s needs and means.

17
Q

The information collected in the financial questionnaire

A
  • The reason for cover,
  • Existing cover
  • Insured’s income and net worth,
  • Number of dependants
18
Q

6 Ways of dealing with extra risks identified in underwriting process

A
  • Charge an extra premium
  • Impose a debt
  • Impose an exclusion clause
  • Defer the proposal
  • Decline proposal
  • Offer an alternative contract
19
Q

Exclusion clause

A

A clause used to exclude claims from a certain cause.

20
Q

Processing the deference of the proposal

A

If the underwriter is unable to assess the extra risk at present, the underwriter may decide to postpone the decision until more information is available.

21
Q

Four groups of AIDS applicants

A
  • sick with AIDS
  • HIV positive
  • At risk
  • Clear
22
Q

Professional reinsurers

A

Companies that only accepted risks from other companies. They do not sell policies directly to the public.

23
Q

Reasons for reinsuring

A
  • Reduces the fluctuations in claim payments to an affordable level.
  • Gives access to the reinsurers’ technical assistance
  • Allows the reduction of new business strain, and thus allows the company to write more business
  • Gives the opportunity for reciprocity
  • May be cost effective
  • May have tax advantages
  • Allows the company to accept large policies without delays.
24
Q

2 Proportional methods of reinsurance

A
  • Original terms reinsurance

- Risk premium reinsurance

25
Q

3 Non-proportional methods of reinsurance

A
  • Catastrophe reinsurance
  • Excess of loss reinsurance
  • Stop loss reinsurance
26
Q

Original terms reinsurance

A

The original contract is shared between the insurer and reinsurer in a proportion agreed at the outset. Premiums and benefits are then shared in that proportion.

27
Q

2 Methods used to split funds between the insurer and reinsurer? (Original terms reinsurance)

A
  • Quota share

- Individual surplus

28
Q

Quota share method of reinsurance split

A

The insurer agrees to retain a fixed proportion of each contract and passes the balance to the reinsurer.

29
Q

Individual surplus method of reinsurance split

A

Everything above the retention limit on each contract is passed to the reinsurer.

30
Q

Risk premium reinsurance

A

In this case only (a proportion of) the risk element is passed to the reinsurer. i.e. (a proportion of) the excess of the death benefit over the reserve held for the contract.

The reinsurance contract is then similar to a term assurance policy with the insurer only paying the reinsurer sufficient to cover the risk reinsured.

31
Q

Non-proportional reinsurance

A

The proportion of the risk borne by the reinsurer is not determined at outset and depends on the size of claims made.

32
Q

Catastrophe reinsurance

A

This provides cover when more than a certain number of lives in your portfolio are involved in an incident causing death.

33
Q

Excess of loss reinsurance

A

This type of reinsurance is used for cases where a particular claim exceeds some predetermined amount.

This type of cover is not relevant in life insurance contracts as the benefits to be paid on death are determined at outset.

34
Q

Stop loss reinsurance

A

This covers the insurer against poor claims experience on a particular portfolio as a whole rather than just looking at individual contracts.

35
Q

Selection process

A

A process attempting to divide the assured lives into homogeneous groups with respect to the main factors affecting risk. (On the other hand policyholders will be attempting to exercise anti-selection for example preferring annuities to assurances if they feel they are in good health)

36
Q

The aim of the selection process

A

To reduce the variability of experience within the group selected.

37
Q

Debt imposed during underwriting

A

An amount deducted from the sum assured.
Starts out at a specified level and decreases with time, until at maturity there will be no debt to be deducted from the maturity proceeds.