As insurers develop accelerated underwriting programs and take steps toward more efficient processes, lower costs, and a streamlined customer experience, innovations across the insurance industry are helping to improve risk insights. It is never too early to start educating yourself and engaging with a partner. Get started with RGA.
It is a transformative time for the life insurance industry as accelerated underwriting promises to reshape the way companies do business.
The goal: to improve underwriting speed and efficiency while also preserving the reliability of the risk assessment process. Amid this dynamic environment, it’s easy for carriers to feel overwhelmed and at risk of being left behind. Fortunately, there is ample opportunity to catch up – and getting started is not as difficult as they might think.
Experts from RGA recently weighed in on the top questions and concerns they field from carriers regarding accelerated underwriting, and they bust some common myths on the topic.
Effective medical and financial underwriting of complex cases is a process requiring the application of underwriting skills honed over many years of experience. A “one size fits all” approach may not be appropriate.
While technology and access to new data sources will improve the speed of underwriting for a portion of the life insurance market, nothing in the market today can replace the value of expert human insight, particularly for difficult cases. *Advances in data analytics, underwriting technology and predictive models should be viewed as a means to augment human capabilities. Underwriters will remain a vital part of the industry – and with accelerated underwriting they will be able to apply their professional skills to the appropriate cases.
In addition, while some may feel that predictive models are the Holy Grail or an ultimate solution to improve the new business process, it’s important to understand that a model is an evolving tool, and it is only as effective as the assumptions and data upon which it’s built. A team of experts to support assumption setting, rules development and data compilation can help ensure the success of all accelerated underwriting programs.
- Jaime Correa, CLU, FLMI, Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Mortality Markets Underwriting, RGA
Companies are working to implement accelerated underwriting solutions, but there are definitely speed bumps to keep an eye out for. In the next article in this series on acceleration, we will present a roadmap of steps you can take to push acceleration forward in your organization.
Reprinted with permission of ON THE RISK, Journal of the Academy of Life Underwriting(www.ontherisk.com)
As insurers develop accelerated underwriting programs and take steps toward more efficient processes, lower costs, and a streamlined customer experience, innovations across the insurance industry are helping to improve risk insights. It is never too early to start educating yourself and engaging with a partner. Get started with RGA.
