• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Life insurers shift to pre-pandemic norms after COVID vaccine roll-outs

September 2, 2021 by David Barret Leave a Comment

September 2, 2021

By Carolyn Cohn and Noor Zainab Hussain

LONDON (Reuters) – The roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations is making life insurers more enthusiastic about offering cover to those with underlying health conditions – some without even knowing whether customers have been vaccinated.

Life insurers were imposing waiting periods to buy cover in the early stages of the pandemic for certain age groups, as well as for those who had been infected, saying the long-term health consequences of coronavirus were not fully understood.

But now that vaccines are prevalent in major economies such as Britain and the United States, life insurers see fewer risks.

Helen Croft, head of underwriting strategy at AIG Life, said the insurer had previously been more cautious in offering cover as a result of the pandemic, but the efficacy and widespread use of the vaccine meant it could provide insurance for more customers.

“The vaccine take-up has been excellent,” she said. AIG Life did not check if individual customers have been vaccinated, with Croft pointing out the insurer did not ask customers about other inoculations, such as for flu.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to be asking about the vaccine – the population level take-up gives us enough comfort,” she said.

Insurers such as LV=, Aviva and Zurich also said they did not ask vaccination questions, with Zurich highlighting the possible limitations of inoculation, such as long-term effectiveness or the impact of new variants.

Regardless of vaccination status, customers with underlying health conditions may pay up to five times the standard rate for life insurance products, sources said.

A reduction in the hospitalisation and death rate as a result of vaccination has meant that “almost all” insurers in Britain have reversed previous COVID-19 restrictions on life cover, said Phil Jeynes, director of corporate sales at insurance broker Reassured.

Britain was one of the first countries to roll out a vaccination programme and almost 80% of all over-16s are fully vaccinated, according to UK government figures.

Premiums have stayed much the same during the pandemic, Jeynes added. Rather than raising rates, insurers postponed providing cover for those above a certain age, with some underlying health conditions or who were recovering from COVID-19, industry sources said.

Life insurance premium volumes dropped by 11% in Britain and by 0.1% in the United States in 2020, according to Swiss Re. Sharp falls in household incomes due to lockdowns and job losses hit demand for life insurance last year, the reinsurer said in a recent report.

Swiss Re expects strong life insurance growth this year and next due to the economic recovery and increased consumer awareness of risk.

In the United States, where more than half of the population is vaccinated, major life insurers Prudential Financial and Lincoln told Reuters they did not ask about vaccines.

The Insurance Compact, standards adopted by 47 U.S. states, said it did not currently allow insurers to ask vaccination questions as state insurance regulation has not yet set public policy around the vaccine and underwriting.

ASKING QUESTIONS

However, some insurers in Britain are asking customers whether they have been inoculated, particularly if their health condition makes them more vulnerable to COVID-19, and this could affect the cost or size of their cover.

“For those that have been fully vaccinated, our risk appetite will be higher,” said Rose St Louis, protection director at Scottish Widows. “We may be able to offer improved terms to those who have had both vaccines.”

Legal & General typically imposes a 12-month waiting period on customers who are clinically vulnerable and where the impact of COVID-19 may be life-threatening.

“To avoid postponing applications for this 1% of new customers, we will now ask whether or not they have had their required vaccine doses…allowing us to give cover to customers when it would otherwise not be available,” an L&G spokesperson said by email.

Unvaccinated vulnerable customers would be declined cover for now, though allowances would be made for those who could not have the shot for medical reasons such as pregnancy, L&G said.

Insurers need to get clearance from their reinsurers for any underwriting changes they make, as reinsurers may otherwise be unwilling to provide that cover.

L&G said its reinsurers agreed with its approach, without naming them.

One global reinsurer, who declined to be identified, said it was supporting the stance of “several insurers” in Britain who were insuring customers in higher risk medical groups for larger amounts of cover, if the customers provided evidence that they were fully vaccinated.

Clive Allison, director, life and pensions at consultants EY, said the need for vaccine questions may be short-lived.

“There’ll be a convergence where most adults will have been double-vaccinated,” he said. “The ones that haven’t are most likely to be in the younger age bracket, and typically are not looking to take out insurance cover.”

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn in London and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Mike Harrison)

Source Link Life insurers shift to pre-pandemic norms after COVID vaccine roll-outs

David Barret
David Barret

Related posts:

  1. “Our Mikis has gone”: ‘Zorba the Greek’ composer Theodorakis dies at 96
  2. WTO chief seeks fishing, pandemic accords by year end
  3. 5 Star Wars games we’d love to see on PC
  4. Amazon Labor Day sales 2021: the best early deals

Filed Under: News

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Michigan Bear Finally Free After 2 Years With Plastic Lid Stuck Around Its Neck
  • Pangolins, The World’s Most Trafficked Mammal, May Soon Get Federal Protection In The US
  • Sharks Have No Bones, So How Do They Get So Big?
  • 2025 Is Shaping Up To Be A Whirlwind Year For Tornadoes In The US
  • Unexpected Nova Just Appeared In The Night Sky – And You Can See It With The Naked Eye
  • Watch As Maori Octopus Decides Eating A Ray Is A Good Idea
  • There Is Life Hiding In The Earth’s Deep Biosphere, But Not As You Know It
  • Two Sandhill Cranes Have Adopted A Canada Gosling, And It’s Ridiculously Adorable
  • Hybrid Pythons Are Taking Over The Florida Everglades With “Hybrid Vigor”
  • Mysterious, Powerful Radio Pulse Traced Back To NASA Satellite That’s Been Dead Since 1967
  • This Is The Best (And Worst) Sleep Position
  • Artificial Eclipse, Dancing Dinosaurs, And 50 Years Of “JAWS”
  • The Longest-Reigning Monarch In History Is Someone You’ve Never Heard Of
  • World’s First Microfiber Recycling Center Plans To Combat Ocean Pollution At Its Source – Our Homes
  • Dancing Dinosaurs May Have Used Site In Colorado As “Largest Lekking Arena In The World”
  • World’s Largest Digital Camera To Reveal Revolutionary First Images On Monday – And You Can Watch Live
  • Common Brain Parasite Infecting Up To 30 Percent Of Americans Disrupts Neuron Communication
  • First Clear Example Of A “Ghost” Mantle Plume Discovered Beneath Arabia
  • “Some People Took JAWS As A License To Kill”: 50 Years On, Can We Turn Fear To Fascination?
  • IFLScience The Big Questions: Would You Rather Go To Space Or The Bottom Of The Sea?
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version