In this article, we review some of the changes that have taken place with individual insurance applications for things like life, critical illness, and disability insurance over the past few years.
Most of us remember completing long paper application forms to obtain life, critical illness, disability or other personal insurance coverage. But insurers have undergone a period of rapid transformation over the past few years to make it easier than ever to apply for coverage and made policies more friendly to customers.
Here are just a few of them!
1) Online applications: Many carriers have transitioned to online applications, where clients can review and sign on their own devices. Depending on an individual’s health history, shortened questionnaires are available and can be completed in less than 30 minutes.
2) Faster underwriting: Leveraging the integration of online applications, underwriters can now see the application right away instead of waiting for paper files to be couriered, scanned, and processed. Again, individuals with little medical history are often underwritten in as little as 24 hours.
3) Waived medicals: As a temporary result of COVID-19, individuals are often exempted from having to provide blood and urine samples with the help of a health professional. Insurers are trying to limit potential exposure to the virus for both health care workers and customers.
4) Eliminating 30-day survival period for certain critical illnesses: Canada Life recently changed their critical illness insurance contracts to eliminate the 30-day survival period for certain conditions, including life-threatening cancer.
5) New term lengths: Term insurance used to come in Term-10 or Term-20, but insurance companies are offering longer term contracts such as Term-65 or Term-30 as well as coverage for a specified length of time.
6) A break on premiums: One carrier is offering 4 months of free premiums on new Term-20, Term-30, and Term-65 policies with an application date prior to December 1, 2020. BC residents are limited to three months of premium credits.
Is it time to review your insurance program and ensure that you are prepared for the unexpected? We would love to hear from you!