group life – Actuarial News

Excerpt:

Chris Swift, the chief executive officer of Hartford Financial, on Friday confirmed what government statistics seem to be showing: The U.S. death rate continues to be noticeably higher than it was before early 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic came to light.

Swift talked about the effects of the higher U.S. mortality rate on the company’s group life insurance business Friday during a conference call with securities analysts.

He noted that mortality was much lower in the first quarter than in the first quarter of 2023, but that it was still somewhat higher than the pre-pandemic average.

“The trends are downward,” Swift said. “But we believe that we’re still operating in an endemic state of mortality, which means it’s going to be higher than normal, and we think that will continue for at least the next the next couple of years. We’ve been pricing our product with that view.”

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 26 April 2024

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Group Life COVID-19 Mortality Survey – Updated through September 2021

March 22, 2023March 22, 2023 Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.soa.org/resources/experience-studies/2022/group-life-covid-19-mortality/

Report PDF: https://www.soa.org/48ff80/globalassets/assets/files/resources/research-report/2022/group-life-covid-19-mortality.pdf

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Table 5.2 shows more detailed industry results for the top ten industry segments by number of COVID claims. Most of these industries were in the top ten for the July 2021 report as well. As we now have more quarters with more complete results, both the A/E ratios for April 2020 through September 2021, as well as the COVID claims as a percentage of baseline claims, showed greater consistency across industries than in the previous report. Public Administration continues to be a key driver of high A/E ratios for the White Collar category. Doctors (Healthcare, also White Collar), Retail Trade (Grey Collar), and Misc. Services (Grey Collar) have the highest COVID claims as a percentage of baseline claims. Heavy Steel Manufacturing (Blue Collar) has a much lower A/E ratio than the other top 10 industries. In the table below, “B,” “W,” and “G” refer to Blue Collar, White Collar, and Grey Collar, respectively.

It should be noted that the high A/E ratios for Public Administration are driven by experience in the Executive, Legislative, and General Government segment (Standard Industry Classification [SIC] codes 9100-9199). This segment does not include police and fire and represents over 85% of claims in the broader Public Administration segment.

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Publication Date: January 2022

Publication Site: Society of Actuaries Research Institute

Group Life COVID-19 Mortality Survey Report

October 29, 2022October 29, 2022 Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.soa.org/4a368a/globalassets/assets/files/resources/research-report/2022/group-life-covid-19-mortality-03-2022-report.pdf

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Tables 2.1 through 2.41 display high-level incidence results for the second quarter of 2020 through the first quarter of 2022 compared to the 2017-2019 baseline period for each combination of (a) incurred/reported basis and (b) count/amount basis as of March 31, 2022. In these tables, the number of COVID-19 claims has not been adjusted for seasonality, but the ratios to baseline have been adjusted for seasonality.

Note that additional data reported in April and May 2022 indicated that the 1Q 2022 excess mortality would likely complete downward from the 19.9% shown below using March data. The fully complete 1Q 2022 excess mortality is expected to remain above 15%.
….

The 24-month period of April 2020 through March 2022 showed the following Group Life mortality results:
• Estimated reported Group Life claim incidence rates were up 20.0% on a seasonally-adjusted basis
compared to 2017–2019 reported claims.
• Estimated incurred Group Life incidence rates were 20.9% higher than baseline on a seasonally-adjusted
basis. As noted above, the incurred incidence rates in February and March 2022 are based on fairly
incomplete data, so they are subject to change and should not be fully relied upon at this point.

Author(s):

Thomas J. Britt, FSA, MAAA
Paul Correia, FSA, MAAA
Patrick Hurley, FSA, MAAA
Mike Krohn, FSA, CERA, MAAA
Tony LaSala, FSA, MAAA
Rick Leavitt, ASA, MAAA
Robert Lumia, FSA, MAAA
Cynthia S. MacDonald, FSA, MAAA, SOA
Patrick Nolan, FSA, MAAA, SOA
Steve Rulis, FSA, MAAA
Bram Spector, FSA, MAAA

Publication Date: August 2022

Publication Site: SOA

Group Term Life – Results of 2021 U.S. Market Survey

September 13, 2022September 13, 2022 Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.genre.com/knowledge/publications/2022/june/surveylhgtlsum2206-en

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Gen Re is pleased to share the results from our latest U.S. Group Term Life Market Survey, an industry benchmarking survey covering the Group Term Life (GTL) and AD&D industry. The survey tracks sales and in‑force results as well as lapse rate and employee-paid data.
Twenty-one of the 29 companies participating in the 2021 survey have provided Group Term Life data over the past 10 survey years.
Twenty-nine companies provided GTL results for 2021. Twenty-seven provided AD&D results. On a combined basis, total GTL and AD&D in‑force premium reached $31.6 billion, with GTL representing the majority (94%) of the total. (Exhibit A)
For GTL in‑force premium, reported industry growth has ranged between 2% and 5% over the past 10 years. In 2021, in‑force premium grew by 6% compared to 2020.
After a five-year low of 1% growth in 2020, AD&D in‑force premium rose by 3% in 2021. (Exhibit B)

Author(s): Nicole Conti

Publication Date: 7 June 2022

Publication Site: Gen Re

Rise in Non-Covid-19 Deaths Hits Life Insurers

May 21, 2022May 21, 2022 Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/rise-in-non-covid-19-deaths-hits-life-insurers-11645576252

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U.S. life insurers, as expected, made a large number of Covid-19 death-benefit payouts last year. More surprisingly, many saw a jump in other death claims, too.
Industry executives and actuaries believe many of these other fatalities are tied to delays in medical care as a result of lockdowns in 2020, and then, later, people’s fears of seeking out treatment and trouble lining up appointments.
…..
Primerica executives similarly cautioned in their fourth-quarter call about outsize numbers of non-Covid-19 deaths in 2022. “Some of these will be the result of delayed medical care or the increased incidence of societal-related issues, such as the increased prevalence of substance abuse,” Chief Financial Officer Alison Rand said in an email interview.
From early stages of the pandemic, many medical professionals have raised concerns about Americans’ untreated health problems, as Covid-19 put stress on the nation’s healthcare system.
Trade group American Council of Life Insurers said the pandemic in 2020 drove the biggest annual increase in death benefits paid by U.S. carriers since the 1918 influenza epidemic, totaling billions of dollars. The hit to the industry’s bottom line has been less than initially feared, however, because many victims have been older people who typically have smaller policies, if any coverage.
Still, Covid-19 and other excess deaths have cut into many carriers’ quarterly earnings, especially as deaths linked to the Delta variant increased for people in their working years with employer-sponsored death benefits. “Earnings impacts have been material and there still appears to be some Covid-19 discount, but investors are starting to look through mortality claims costs,” said Andrew Kligerman, a stock analyst with Credit Suisse Securities.

Author(s): Leslie Scism

Publication Date: 23 Feb 2022

Publication Site: WSJ

COVID-19 Deaths Cause More Than $700M in Q1 Claims

May 21, 2022May 21, 2022 Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2022/05/09/covid-19-deaths-continue-to-hit-life-insurers-hard/

Excerpt:

COVID-19 returned to killing older Americans at a much higher rate than younger Americans in the first quarter, and that helped to hold down life insurers’ death claims.
The pandemic killed about 155,000 U.S. residents in the latest quarter. That was up from 127,000 in the fourth quarter of 2021, but down from 191,000 in the first quarter of 2021, according to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public and private sources.
Some life insurers and reinsurers that posted earnings last week skipped COVID-19 mortality details.
…..

MetLife: $230 million in world group life claims this quarter, down from $280 million a year earlier.

Hartford Financial: $96 million before taxes this quarter, down from $185 million a year earlier.

Unum: 1,400 deaths at an average of $55,000, or $77 million, down from 1,725 deaths at an average of $65,000, or $112 million, a year earlier.

Lincoln Financial: $53 million in group life claim claims and $18 million in group disability claims this quarter, down from $83 million in group life claims and $7 million in group disability claims a year earlier.

Voya: $35 million in group life claims this quarter, up from $29 million a year earlier.

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 9 May 2022

Publication Site: Think Advisor

2021 Academy Legislative/Regulatory Review

February 16, 2022February 16, 2022 Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.actuary.org/sites/default/files/members/alerts/pdf/2022/2022-CP-1.pdf

Excerpt:

The American Academy of Actuaries presents this summary of select significant regulatory and
legislative developments in 2021 at the state, federal, and international levels of interest to the U.S.
actuarial profession as a service to its members.
Introduction
The Academy focused on key policy debates in 2021 regarding pensions and retirement, health, life,
and property and casualty insurance, and risk management and financial reporting.

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing ever-changing cyber risk concerns, and analyzing
the implications and actuarial impacts of data science modeling continued to be a focus in 2021.

Practice councils monitored and responded to numerous legislative developments at the state, federal,
and international level. The Academy also increased its focus on the varied impacts of climate risk and
public policy initiatives related to racial equity and unfair discrimination in 2021.

The Academy continues to track the progress of legislative and regulatory developments on actuarially
relevant issues that have carried over into the 2022 calendar year.

Publication Date: 15 Feb 2022

Publication Site: American Academy of Actuaries

COVID-19 Is Increasing Individual Life Claims, Too: Analysis

February 15, 2022February 15, 2022 Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2022/02/14/covid-19-is-increasing-individual-life-claims-too-analysis/

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The increase in the number of individual life claims was lower than for group life claims in some quarters but higher in others.
The analysts emphasize that the numbers are incomplete and subject to change.
Early results show that the number of claims was higher in the fall than in the summer both for individual life and group life.

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 14 Feb 2022

Publication Site: Think Advisor