An Important Life Insurance Underwriting Update from Principal
Hello. You may have seen the recent announcement about my new role as Chief Underwriter. I want to take the opportunity to introduce myself and also share some good news about our Principal® Guaranteed Issue (GI) Term and Principal Accelerated UnderwritingSM programs.
I’ve been with Principal® for nearly 20 years. During my career, I’ve had the good fortune to be closely involved in several key strategic initiatives including the introduction of Accelerated Underwriting, managing reinsurance relationships, and the enhancement of our digital capabilities in the collection of underwriting information to drive decision-making.
One thing that sets our underwriting organization apart from many others is the access you have to us to discuss cases. I’ve had the opportunity to work directly with many distributors during my time here. If you’re one of them, thank you for your partnership. If I haven’t worked with you, I look forward to doing so.
Making GI Term available to more businesses
I’m excited to announce an upcoming change to the required minimum number of covered lives for certain GI Term cases. Beginning next week, the group eligibility minimum will be reduced from 25 to 10 lives for qualifying cases—meaning even more of your business clients can get access to this innovative solution.
We’ll determine group eligibility based on a calculated group risk score involving a de-identified prescription check. With a qualifying aggregate score, we’ll be able to consider groups of 10-24 lives. For any groups that don’t qualify, the individual members may still qualify for Accelerated Underwriting to get the coverage they need. Stay tuned for further details.
Enhancing the Accelerated Underwriting experience
We’re making an adjustment to the Random Holdout (RHO) program for Accelerated Underwriting. The RHO program helps monitor Accelerated Underwriting quality and ensure favorable mortality results. The change we’re making is to collect underwriting information electronically rather than by ordering an insurance exam. Effective immediately, here’s how the RHO process will work:
- A small random sample of cases that qualify for Accelerated Underwriting will be held out (the same as in the past), and the underwriters will order Electronic Health Records on the applicants rather than insurance exams.
- If no Electronic Health Records are available for an applicant, the case will be approved through Accelerated Underwriting without the need for labs and physical measurements.
This process will provide a better experience for your clients and also enable greater speed and efficiency.
Underwriting solutions for your business clients
We’ve been an industry leader with Accelerated Underwriting for nearly a decade. And recently, we introduced Principal® Business Solutions Enhanced Underwriting—an extension of Accelerated Underwriting for face amounts up to $50 million. I’m confident that our innovative programs, business market knowledge, and underwriting expertise will help you stand out with your clients.
Thank you for your continued partnership. We appreciate the opportunity to earn your business.
Nate Berns
Chief Underwriter