Manulife Financial | A New Underwriting Study is Underway
Please be advised that a new underwriting study is underway which serves to enhance our Accelerated Underwriting program in the future.
In essence, we will need to order APS’ on 5% of our Accelerated lives in order to monitor any potential anti-selection. The process began last week, and we are generally ordering one APS each day from a case chosen at random using an Excel tool. We anticipate this study will run for about 6 months until we can gather enough credible data.
In addition, the smoker algorithm is working well and we will order fluids on cases where we suspect someone is misrepresenting their tobacco use. This will be an ongoing program.
Advisors with selected cases will receive an NBN stating something along the following lines:
“We’ve introduced our Accelerated UW program to improve the customer buying experience. As we continue to improve the overall UW process, we will occasionally be ordering APS/Fluids on cases selected randomly. This file has been selected as part of our study to confirm that our new Accelerated process will be successful. Thank you for your patience as we continue to work toward a faster and improved underwriting experience.”
An article is posted on Repsource to notify advisors, and the content of that article is included below, for your reference.
Studying Accelerated Underwriting cases to expand the program
In May 2016, Manulife launched Accelerated Underwriting, an industry-leading initiative that allows roughly 80% of applicants aged 18-40 to apply for life insurance with a face amount up to $1,000,000 to be underwritten solely on a completed application. Accelerated Underwriting removed the need for blood or urine collection and there is no visit from a health professional, simplifying the insurance buying process for both you and your clients. In many cases, we were able issue a policy within a couple of days! We’re really pleased with the success of the program, having underwritten many lives since its launch, and we hope you’ve had an opportunity to experience its benefits too. We want to continue to expand our Accelerated offering, and in order to do that we’ll need to order Attending Physician Statements (APS) on a random sample of cases – approximately 1 to 2 lives per day – for a period of time.
As a part of this evaluation, we’ll compare the information received in the APS to that disclosed on the application to validate the information is accurate. This study will allow us to enhance the program we launched and maintain our competitive edge in simplifying the underwriting process. No additional work will be required from you and you will receive a notice from the underwriter if your case is chosen. We appreciate that ordering an APS can delay a file and we’ll keep a close watch on the cases to ensure they are moving along as quickly as possible, working hard to expedite the process.
Thank you for your patience and understanding while we complete this review.