Covid Deaths and Analysis from an Insurance Actuarial

[GeoFisher]

This came from a friend of mine, a professional in the Life Insurance industry.



An interesting study recently published by the Society of Actuaries (which I am a member of). Examining life insurance claims in the first six months of 2020 and the impact of COVID. The data is older since there are substantial lags in reporting death claims to the insurance companies, as well as company reporting lags and the time required to compile the report by volunteers and have it peer reviewed. There were about 100k US population deaths due to COVID as of June 30 vs. >500k today. It will be interesting to see a similar report covering more recent time periods.
Since this is only for people who have purchased individual (not group/work) life policies, the examined set of people is quite different than the US population as a whole, however the findings are consistent with CDC, Johns Hopkins and other sources - deaths are about 7% higher for the first 6 months of 2020 than the previous 5 years. Much directly attributable to COVID (noted as primary source of death on insurance company records).
This holds up when looked at from both an excess death comparison (without caring about the cause of death) as well as when focusing solely on COVID-caused claims.


George White - since other professionals dug into this with much better data than I could get, I decided to not do my own analysis.

Interesting.

Later,

Geo

[ZoraSpook]

Makes me wonder if premiums for new policies will be higher in the near future with increased claims as an industry justification.

[jcb]

Makes me wonder if premiums for new policies will be higher in the near future with increased claims as an industry justification.

Pretty good bet, I'd say.

[ZoraSpook]

Some auto insurance companies are giving some small premium rebates as a result of reduced miles driven during the pandemic. Goo deal and thanks to those that do.

So since I didn't use my life insurance during the pandemic, and didn't cost the insurance company big bucks, I think I should get a chunk of my premium back as a way for the insurance company to say "Thank you for living responsibly and not making us pay your widow".