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A recipe for success: it's time to choose known alternatives to costly and slow underwriting.


At this writing, I find myself in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?"
midmost
 of preparing for yet another jam session with senior management of a life insurer, now that their attention has been drawn to the Scylla and Charybdis Scylla and Charybdis

In Greek mythology, two monsters that guarded the narrow passage through which Odysseus had to sail in his wanderings. These waters are now identified with the Strait of Messina.
 of profitable underwriting: acquisition cost and turnaround time (1) In batch processing, the time it takes to receive finished reports after submission of documents or files for processing. In an online environment, turnaround time is the same as response time. .

They were rightly appalled at the relics--passed off as worthy tools for measuring risk--that fitter their landscape.

A recent (and brilliantly crafted) editorial bemoaned shabby underwriting time service. Awash in verisimilitude, the authors argued it should not take until that other place freezes over to issue a policy.

Sixty-some chief underwriters affirmed 22 to 26 days as a credible representation of their prevailing median application-to-issue (under)achievement interval.

One asks in consternation: "How can underwriting take an average three to four weeks?"

Consider what passes for "risk selection resources" and see the pathogenic mechanisms begetting untenable costs and egregious delays.

* Clinical medicine has not screened with chest X-rays for 20 years; we ignore the paradox of exposing insurance seekers to ionizing radiation i·on·i·zing radiation
n.
High-energy radiation capable of producing ionization in substances through which it passes.


Ionizing radiation 
.

* Half a grand spent on a treadmill test is seven times the cost of a superior alternative readily accessible in days, not weeks. Of course, the customer will be denied the opportunity to perform like a caged hamster (as if earning coverage with perspiration).

* Blood screening has enormous value ... over age 40. So why the same deployment threshold for 20-year-olds as for gold watch recipients?

* Surely an unpublished internal study of insurance exams, undertaken by a gifted medical director, that found zero significant eye abnormalities had been reported by examiners in a cohort where such things should be frequent, was aberrational. Ah, if only it were so ...

* Experience teaches that 50% of medical records tracked down by underwriters at $60 a pop (that's just the sticker price!) contribute nothing.

How now?

A bumper sticker espied in traffic read "Question War!"

A 21st-century rule of thumb should read: "if it costs more than $50 or takes more than seven days, dissect dissect /dis·sect/ (di-sekt´) (di-sekt´)
1. to cut apart, or separate.

2. to expose structures of a cadaver for anatomical study.


dis·sect
v.
 it with a vengeance!"

When "they" tell you it must not be otherwise, question the reasoning and motives severely.

Resources at hand make cost-efficient, time-sensitive underwriting one conscious and enlightened interlude from realization. As in:

* Let teleinterviews triage triage

Division of patients for priority of care, usually into three categories: those who will not survive even with treatment; those who will survive without treatment; and those whose survival depends on treatment.
 risks before resorting to medical records.

* Pharmaceutical profiling has run its gauntlet of angst and nay-saying. Bottom line: Prescriptions reports are way too fast and far too good to be denied a place in your screening portfolio.

* Oral fluid is the proven antidote to blood testing under age 40.

* Time to resurrect the "fixed-site" paramedical par·a·med·i·cal
adj.
1. Of, relating to, or being a person trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals.

2.
? Prospects for higher quality and much-needed enhancements beckon beck·on  
v. beck·oned, beck·on·ing, beck·ons

v.tr.
1. To signal or summon, as by nodding or waving.

2.
.

* Some combination of readily accessible and thoroughly affordable blood tests will soon put the sword to treadmills and greatly diminish all electrocardiogram electrocardiogram /elec·tro·car·dio·gram/ (-kahr´de-o-gram?) a graphic tracing of the variations in electrical potential caused by the excitation of the heart muscle and detected at the body surface.  use.

Why would a consultant offer up a recipe for success ... in an essay?

Because the viability of underwriting and the credibility of this industry make any other course of action unconscionable Unusually harsh and shocking to the conscience; that which is so grossly unfair that a court will proscribe it.

When a court uses the word unconscionable to describe conduct, it means that the conduct does not conform to the dictates of conscience.
,

Hank George, a Best's Review columnist, is the principal in his own consulting and training firm, Hank George Inc. He may be reached at insight@bestreview.com.
COPYRIGHT 2007 A.M. Best Company, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:Underwriting Insight: Life
Author:George, Hank
Publication:Best's Review
Date:Mar 1, 2007
Words:507
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