Tag: Think Advisor

U.S. Deaths Still 7% Over Pre-COVID Norm in Q2

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2024/08/12/u-s-deaths-still-7-over-pre-covid-norm-in-q2/

Excerpt:

What You Need to Know

  • General-population mortality trends may differ from trends for people with life insurance and annuities.
  • The total number of first-half deaths was about 110,000 higher than the first six months of 2019.
  • One group would like to see life insurers use voluntary screening tests to learn more about mortality trends.

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 12 Aug 2024

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Mortality Stays Slightly Elevated: Globe Life Exec

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2024/07/30/mortality-stays-slightly-elevated-globe-life-exec/

Excerpt:

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, in early 2020, Globe Life has been one of the life insurers that’s been quickest to give analysts candid assessments of U.S. mortality.

Mortality is much lower than it was when pandemic-related mortality was peaking, and mortality trends are now helping, not, hurting, Globe Life’s earnings, Kalmbach said.

“Mortality has been fairly consistent over the last few quarters, which has been good,” he said.

He sees the mortality rate from accidents and other nonmedical causes improving.

….

“Heart disease and cancer, although improved, are still a little bit higher,” he said. “Another one that remains elevated as a cause of death is neurological disorders, which would be stroke and Alzheimer’s. We’re keeping an eye on that.”

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 30 July 2024

Publication Site: think Advisor

The Hartford Sees High Mortality for the Next Few Years

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2024/04/26/hartford-sees-high-mortality-for-next-few-years/

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

DOL Can’t Put Fiduciary Duty on IRAs, Ex-Labor Official Testifies

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2024/01/10/dol-cant-put-fiduciary-duty-on-iras-ex-labor-official-testifies/

Excerpt:

The Labor Department lacks the legal authority to promulgate its new fiduciary rule, Brad Campbell, partner at Faegre Drinker, and former head of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, told House lawmakers Wednesday.

During testimony before the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee, Campbell maintained that the department “doesn’t have the legal authority to do what it is trying to do” because it cannot impose a fiduciary duty as it relates to individual retirement accounts.

“The reason we are here today is that the Proposals go well beyond DOL’s limited authority,” Campbell told lawmakers.

Labor’s plan ”would make DOL the primary financial regulator of $26 trillion, approximately half of which is held by individuals” in IRAs rather than employer-provided plans.

If Labor’s proposals “were limited to redefining fiduciary advice within the department’s actual authority — which is to administer the fiduciary standard expressly created by Congress to regulate employee benefit plans sponsored by private sector employers under Title I of ERISA — we wouldn’t be here today,” Campbell opined.

Author(s): Melanie Waddell

Publication Date: 10 Jan 2024

Publication Site: Think Advisor

DOL: If You Were an Independent Contractor, You Probably Still Are

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2024/01/10/dol-if-you-were-an-independent-contractor-you-probably-still-are/

Excerpt:

Traditionally, many life insurance agents, brokers and advisors have preferred to operate as independent contractors to benefit from the federal income tax rules for self-employed people and to enjoy the privilege of not having a boss.

But some financial professionals have argued that they would be better off if life insurers classified them as employees. In 2009, for example, three former Northwestern Mutual Life representatives sued in a federal court in California over allegations that the company had deprived them of FLSA protections by classifying them as independent contractors.

In 2019, representatives for Uber drivers and other gig workers persuaded California lawmakers to pass Assembly Bill 5, legislation that established a broader definition of “employee” for California employers.

Federal efforts: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners and other agent and broker groups joined with the American Council of Life Insurers to oppose efforts by members of Congress to set a federal definition for employee that would be similar to the California definition.

During the administration of former President Donald Trump, the Labor Department tried to address the concerns about worker classification by adopting a new, shorter “core factors” test. Those regulations took effect in January 2021.

In October 2022, after Joe Biden became president, the department announced in a notice that it was planning to rescind and replace the new regulations because the new regulations were not fully compatible with the FLSA and conflicted with decades of court decisions based on the economic reality test.

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 10 Jan 2024

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Social Security’s 2024 COLA, While Modest, Could Still Trigger Higher Taxes

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2023/10/13/social-securitys-2024-cola-while-modest-could-still-trigger-higher-taxes/

Excerpt:

And, as Mary Johnson, the league’s Social Security and Medicare policy analyst, highlighted in a call with ThinkAdvisor, there is also widespread concern about what the relatively modest 2024 COLA could mean for the taxes seniors pay on their federal government benefits.

As many as 26% of survey participants who have received Social Security for more than three years reported paying taxes on a portion of their benefits for the first time during the 2023 tax season — i.e., for tax year 2022.

“Because Social Security recipients received an even higher COLA of 8.7% in 2023, we expect more beneficiaries to become liable for federal income taxes on their Social Security benefits for the first time in the upcoming 2024 tax season,” Johnson warned.

….

“Up to 85% of Social Security benefits can be taxable when income exceeds certain thresholds,” Johnson explains. “Unlike other parts of the federal income tax code, though, the income thresholds that subject Social Security benefits to taxation have never been adjusted for inflation.”

Author(s): John Manganaro

Publication Date: 13 Oct 2023

Publication Site: Think Advisor

New Bill Would Exclude Social Security From Income Tax

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2023/05/22/new-bill-would-exclude-social-security-from-income-tax/

Excerpt:

New legislation, H.R. 3206, the Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act, would repeal the inclusion in gross income of Social Security benefits.

Social Security advocates criticized the bill, saying it would hurt the solvency of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

Under current law, up to 85% of a retiree’s Social Security benefits are taxed, depending on income. This tax revenue is deposited to the trust funds.

The bill specifies that taxes cannot be raised to replace this revenue.

Author(s): Melanie Waddell

Publication Date: 22 May 2023

Publication Site: Think Advisor

15 Cities Where Retirees Are Most Reliant on Social Security

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2023/04/26/15-cities-where-retirees-are-most-reliant-on-social-security/

Graphic:

Excerpt:

A new report from SmartAsset finds that Social Security benefits comprise 41.7% of a retiree’s total income of $50,780, on average. That percentage is even higher for retirees in some cities, where benefits can make up half of overall retirement income.

To find out where retirees rely most on Social Security, SmartAsset examined data for Social Security income as a percentage of overall retirement income in the 100 U.S. cities with the largest population of residents ages 65 and older.

Author(s): Michael S. Fischer

Publication Date: 26 Apr 2023

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Federal Financial Watchdog Aims to Expand Its Reach

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2023/04/24/federal-financial-watchdog-aims-to-expand-its-reach/

Excerpt:

The Financial Stability Oversight Council — the federal agency in charge of keeping the U.S. financial system upright — wants to change a 2019 document that limits how it tries to keep problems at life insurers, money market funds, cryptocurrency firms and other nonbank financial companies from destroying the economy.

FSOC announced Friday that it’s proposing a new version of the document that would free it from the 2019 restrictions.

….

FSOC started a fight with life insurers and their regulators by designating companies such as MetLife and Prudential Financial as “systemically important financial institutions,” or companies needing extra oversight.

Life insurers argued that the SIFI designation process was unclear, arbitrary and unfair.

MetLife sued FSOC over its SIFI designation. A federal appeals court threw out MetLife’s designation in 2018.

FSOC withdrew the last designation of a nonbank company — Prudential Financial — in October 2018.

…..

FSOC says it needs more flexibility to address potential risks as early and as quickly as possible, and that comparing the potential benefits of focusing attention on a nonbank company to the potential impact on the company is not useful.

“This is in part because it is not feasible to estimate with any certainty the likelihood, magnitude or timing of a future financial crisis,” FSOC said. FSOC argued that, if it does prevent a financial crisis, it would save the country trillions of dollars.

FSOC noted that it consults with state regulators and federal regulatory agencies regularly, and that its own members are made up mostly of state and federal agency heads.

“The council expects that most potential risks to financial stability will continue to be addressed by existing regulators rather than by use of the council’s nonbank financial company designation authority,” FSOC said.

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 24 Apr 2023

Publication Site: Think Advisor

12 States Where Working-Age Death Counts Are Still High

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2023/03/28/12-states-where-working-age-death-counts-are-still-high/

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Death finally seemed to ease up on U.S. residents ages 25 through 64 in February.

The total number of deaths of working-age people in that age group, from all causes, was 5.5% lower than the February average for the period from 2015 through 2019, according to the very earliest mortality data available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But all-cause death counts for working-age people were more than 4.5% higher than the 2015-2019 baseline in 12 states and New York City, and up by almost 40% in one state.

Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, anything that increased the death rate for a large group of people by more than 2% was considered a major news story.

….

Limitations

One concern is whether the apparent drop in working-age mortality is due partly to state data submission delays.

At press time, for example, Louisiana had sent the CDC only four days of mortality data for February. Other states might also be slower to send the CDC their numbers.

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 28 March 2023

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Insurtech Regs, ‘Dark Pattern’ Spottting on NAIC’s To-Do List

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2022/12/16/insurtech-regs-dark-pattern-spottting-on-naics-to-do-list/

Excerpt:

In August [2022], Birny Birnbaum, the executive director of the Center for Economic Justice, asked the [NAIC] Market Regulation committee to train analysts to detect “dark patterns” and to define dark patterns as an unfair and deceptive trade practice.

The term “dark patterns” refers to techniques an online service can use to get consumers to do things they would otherwise not do, according to draft August meeting notes included in the committee’s fall national meeting packet.

Dark pattern techniques include nagging; efforts to keep users from understanding and comparing prices; obscuring important information; and the “roach motel” strategy, which makes signing up for an online service much easier than canceling it.

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 16 Dec 2022

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Long COVID Correlates With High Mortality: Health Insurer

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2023/03/03/long-covid-correlates-with-high-mortality-health-insurer/

Excerpt:

A giant health insurer says health plan enrollees who suffered from long COVID-19 symptoms were more than twice as likely as other enrollees to die during a 12-month follow-up period.

Andrea DeVries, a researcher at Elevance Health, and three colleagues found that, during the year studied, 2.8% of the 13,435 enrollees classified as having “post-COVID-19 condition” died, according to a study published in the JAMA Health Forum, which is affiliated with the Journal of the American Medical Association.

That compares with a death rate of just 1.2% for similar enrollees without COVID-19 during the same period.

….

Elevance Health is the company formerly known as Anthem. The company provides or administers major medical coverage for about 48 million people.

The DeVries looked at claim records for 249,013 Elevance plan enrollees ages and older who were diagnosed with COVID-19 from April 1, 2020, through July 31, 2020 — before regulators had adopted a long COVID diagnosis code.

The team began by identifying enrollees with COVID-19 who had been enrolled in an Elevance plan for at least five months before being diagnosed with COVID-19 and who had survived for at least two months after the diagnosis date.

Because of the lack of a long COVID-19 diagnosis code, the team used claims for other conditions, such as loss of the sense of smell, brain fog, anxiety and heart rate problems, to come up with a list of enrollees with long COVID.

Author(s): Allison Bell

Publication Date: 3 March 2023

Publication Site: Think Advisor