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How long have you been in the industry and how did you get started?
“I’ve been in the industry for more than 30 years and began my career at Financial Life in new business administration. I moved into underwriting about 2 years after joining the company and enjoyed the variety of the work, complexity and problem solving along with the relationship building underwriting involves. “
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What underwriting trends are you most excited about?
“The trends that I am most excited about are generative AI, technology in medicine and the pace at which we are seeing uninsurable diseases become insurable. In order to address the pace of change, we’re setting up teams to manage specific risks; for example, we recently implemented changes to our underwriting practices for diabetics and began sending all of these cases to a small number of underwriters on the team. These underwriters are sharpening their skills, making more competitive offers and are deeply knowledgeable about the latest updates in diabetes treatment. We’re taking the same approach for cancer, cardiac and stroke histories and are seeing more cases approved standard.
Generative AI has the potential to augment underwriting by taking some of the administrative tasks thereby making underwriting much more interesting, especially where complex medical and financial situations are involved. Advanced analytics is making all the difference to the buying experience and reducing the time from application to placing the policy. We’ve recently introduced new medical questions in our tele-interview that shortened the customer interview time by about 10 minutes; we’re asking more relevant questions for a more personal experience. Our underwriters are learning new skills with regular frequency and at a faster pace than before. All of this is aimed at making insurance and financial security accessible to more people, which is pretty darn exciting!”
