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Life insurance underwriting in the United States – yesterday, today and tomorrow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2013

Allen M. Klein
Allen M. Klein*
Affiliation:
Milliman Inc., Chicago/Lake Forest, Illinois, USA
*
*Correspondence to: Allen M. Klein, Milliman, Inc., Two Conway Park, 150 Field Drive – Suite 180, Lake Forest, IL 60045, USA; E-mail: al.klein@milliman.com
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Abstract

Underwriting in the United States (US) life insurance marketplace has evolved tremendously over the last several decades. This paper will take a brief look at that history, from the older underwriting techniques still in use today to the introduction of smoker/nonsmoker distinctions in about 1980 to the evolution of preferred underwriting in the late 1980s, and finally to a movement toward simplified issue underwriting and a new approach to older age underwriting today.

Keywords

UnderwritingMedical UnderwritingFinancial UnderwritingPreferred UnderwritingSimplified IssueOlder Age UnderwritingTele-underwritingPredictive ModellingMortality
Type
Sessional meetings: papers and abstracts of discussions
Information
British Actuarial Journal , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , July 2013 , pp. 486 - 502
Copyright
Copyright © Institute and Faculty of Actuaries 2013 

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