The role of a life insurance underwriter is to evaluate and determine the degree of risk involved in issuing life insurance policies to persons applying for life insurance at their company. This could involve simply looking at the MIB and pharmacy record (for simplified issue, nonmed policies) all the way to reviewing hundreds of pages of medical records, tax returns, and/or inspection reports for very large policies.
The underwriters' role is to make sure that the insurance company they work for does not lose excessive amounts of money by charging too little, but does not lose business by charging too much. Underwriters are a very important part of a reputable and secure life insurance company.
A life insurance underwriter assesses the medical condition of the proposed insured as well as beneficiary election and financial justification. Overall insurance justification establishes whether the amount of coverage and the beneficiaries of the application are warranted before moving forward in the underwriting process. The paramount issue is here is the economic loss suffered by beneficiaries at the death of the insured.
The medical information of the proposed insured contains the attending physician’s statements, the insurance exam results, prescription medications and the application answers to determine an underwriting offer. The collection of this data can be a time consuming process from 4-6 weeks.
Business Development Officer, T.D. McNeil Insurance Services, Fresno, California
An actuary takes years of statistics and projects life expectancies for every age. From this information a “standard rate” is developed. The underwriter reviews the information provided on an insurance application. The purpose of this procedure is to decide how close to “standard” a specific risk is. The underwriter will make a determination upon which the company will either decline a risk or make an offer to insure. In the vast majority of cases the policies are issued at standard rates but the underwriter might adjust the offer either increasing or decreasing the premium as is warranted.
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The underwriters' role is to make sure that the insurance company they work for does not lose excessive amounts of money by charging too little, but does not lose business by charging too much. Underwriters are a very important part of a reputable and secure life insurance company.
The medical information of the proposed insured contains the attending physician’s statements, the insurance exam results, prescription medications and the application answers to determine an underwriting offer. The collection of this data can be a time consuming process from 4-6 weeks.