February 2017 Carrier Updates

Last Updated: February 16

AIG

  • Underwriting Enhancement: Resting EKG No Longer Required For Some Applications. Underwriting requirements just got easier! Effective January 30, 2017, resting EKGs are no longer required* for applicants under age 71 or for policies of $10 million or less. This change is made to both improve our competitive position and to help our valued distributors remove a roadblock from the insurance purchasing process. Questions? Please contact your Underwriting Team.
  • New Child Rider Available on Select-a-Term. We recently announced that Select-a-Term, our flagship product, just got even more competitive! Click here for more details. Now, we are pleased to announce that the new Child Rider is approved in all states except New York*. In the table linked above, we have outlined the changes from the old child rider and the new one.

Need help with any of AIG's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

American National

  • Coverage Continuation Rider Withdrawn. Effective February 28, 2017, the Coverage Continuation Rider will no longer be available on ANICO Executive UL SI for new sales. Important Deadlines: February 28, 2017 is the last date an application can be written for an Executive UL SI policy with the Coverage Continuation Rider. March 10, 2017 is the last date an application can be received in the home office in order to retain the Executive UL SI with Coverage Continuation Rider.

Need help with any of American National's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

AXA

  • Extended guarantee on BrightLife Protect. Life changes constantly. Now, with BrightLife® Protect, our protection Indexed Universal Life policy, your clients can meet whatever changes come their way and still stay protected. A powerful combination of a new, simple no-lapse guarantee and our competitive long-term care option lets your clients live more today, keep more of what they earn with tax-deferred growth and potentially build more cash value they can actually use. NEW! Guaranteed coverage to age 90. No guesswork or calculations are needed. Instead, your clients get a simple, “no-math” guarantee for level pay premiums they can rely on. For the same competitive cost, your clients’ coverage is now: Guaranteed to age 90 when purchased at age 50 or older, and Guaranteed for 40 years if purchased under age 50.

Need help with any of AXA's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

Global Atlantic

  • Introducing New Living Benefits with the Accelerated Access Rider. Global Atlantic is proud to announce an update to our existing Accelerated Access Rider, now offering benefits for individuals with a critical illness diagnosis. This new and flexible chronic care – now critical care – rider accelerates a portion of a policy’s death benefit when an insured is diagnosed as either chronically or critically ill by a licensed physician. Payments received by your client can be used to help pay for expenses such as adult daycare, assisted living, family care and nursing home costs. Click the link above for more details.

Need help with any of Global Atlantic's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

John Hancock

  • Deadline Extension for LTC Underwriting and Other Requirements. As you know, we recently made the difficult decision to discontinue sales of our individual long term care (LTC) insurance policies in all states. This was initially communicated in the November 10, 2016 Newslink, along with a schedule of important dates and deadlines. We had originally communicated that all policies must be issued and paid for by February 10th, 2017, however, we will continue to process pending applications with the following extensions: February 15th, 2017 – By this date, all outstanding underwriting and other requirements required to assess the application, including lab tests, medical records and other administrative items, are due in the service office. (11:59 ET for documents submitted electronically and/or must be received by February 15th if mailed). After February 15th, any applications with pending requirements will be closed and no longer eligible for issue. Cases for which all required information is received prior to February 15th, and that are determined to be insurable, will proceed to issue. If your client(s) has an application with pending medical requirements, we encourage you to contact them and ask that they expedite our request with their medical provider as we are unable to grant extensions past this date. March 3rd, 2017 – By this date, all policies must be issued and paid for.
  • Next Round of In-Force Rate Action Notifications To Take Place in Late February. In late February, we will begin policyholder notifications on the next round of John Hancock and Fortis policies impacted by the in-force rate actions, which will have an effective date beginning with anniversaries on or after May 1, 2017. Click the link above for more information.

Need help with any of John Hancock's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

Legal & General

  • Term Reprice - New OPTerm Rates Rank #1. We're sure you'll love our new OPTerm rates, for all Banner and William Penn OPTerm products. Decreases across all ages, genders, bands, and classes are sure to make your mouth water. Icing on the cake? For ALL ages, classes and durations, we're back at #1 - 78% of the time for Banner and 84% of the time for William Penn. To sweeten the deal, LGA's digital solutions save you time and money, making selling term easy as pie. Click the link above for more info, marketing materials, competitive charts, and more.

Need help with any of Legal & General's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

Lincoln Financial

  • Lincoln LifeGuarantee® SUL Premium Increases. Effective February 13, 2017, there will be premium increases to new sales of Lincoln LifeGuarantee® SUL (2013) of approximately 10-20% across all ages, underwriting classes, and funding patterns. For approved states, the transition period begins February 13, 2017 and ends March 17, 2017. Any states not available at rollout will have a 30-day transition period from the date they become available. Click the link above for more details.
  • Lincoln LifeElements® Level Term. On Monday, January 23rd, Lincoln Financial released revised rates for their Lincoln LifeElements® Level Term product.
  • Lincoln TermAccel® Level Term. On Monday, January 23rd, Lincoln Financial released revised rates for their Lincoln TermAccel® Level Term product.
  • Lincoln Financial LifeGuarantee® Survivorship UL (SUL). On Monday, February 13th, Lincoln will increase pricing on their LifeGuarantee® Survivorship UL (SUL) product.

Need help with any of Lincoln Financial's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

Met Life

  • MetLife Discontinuing Products. On Friday, February 3rd, MetLife will be discontinuing many products within their individual life product portfolio.

Need help with any of Met Life's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

Minnesota Life

Need help with any of Minnesota Life's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

Mutual of Omaha

  • LTC Rate Adjustments Effective May 1, 2017. Long-Term Care insurance (LTCi) is a core product for Mutual of Omaha and we intend to remain a key player in this market for years to come. In order to fulfill this commitment, we actively monitor emerging industry trends as well as our own experience so we can make the adjustments necessary that will allow us to keep our promises to policyholders and remain competitive in the marketplace. For this reason, we will be implementing the following rate adjustments effective May 1, 2017. Block of Business: NHA, LTA, HCA, LT50, NH50 in North Dakota and Oklahoma and LTC04G in West Virginia.
  • Upcoming Changes to Our Life Portfolio. Mutual of Omaha is committed to providing insurance solutions to help you protect your customers and prepare them for the future. As we continue to review our product portfolio, we must make business decisions that are in the best interest of our policyholders and our company. Effective March 1, 2017, we are suspending sales of the following products: (a) Guaranteed Universal Life Plus — designed for larger first-year premium dump-ins, and (b) Guaranteed Universal Life Survivor — designed for second-to-die, survivorship sales. Our individual Guaranteed Universal Life product will remain available, which is where we receive the majority of our fully-guaranteed life insurance business. This product will continue to provide your customers significant value with flexible features such as the Guaranteed Refund Option Rider and Accelerated Death Benefit Rider for Terminal and Chronic illness, all included at no additional cost. We also offer many additional product solutions to help you fulfill your clients’ life insurance needs, including our Income Advantage IUL, AccumUL Plus and Answers, Term Life Answers, Whole Life Guaranteed, Children’s Whole Life, and our Express Term, Whole Life, and GUL products. Click the link above for details.

Need help with any of Mutual of Omaha's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

Nationwide

  • Effective March 12, 2017: Long-term Care Rider II to Better Meet Clients' LTC Needs. Nationwide is making a product change effective March 13, 2017: The new Long-Term Care Rider will be available on Nationwide YourLife® Indexed UL, Nationwide YourLife® Indexed UL Accumulator, & Nationwide YourLife® Indexed UL Protector for applicable states listed below. New Paperwork is required for the New LTC Rider* Applicable States AL, AK, AR, CO, GA, ID, IL, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NV, NH, NM, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, & WY**. **In states where required, a new Long-Term Care Guide will need to be given to the client. Important Dates and Deadlines: If customers want the New LTC Rider: Monday, March 13, 2017 – New LTC Rider Effective Date. Applications signed on or after this date receive the New LTC Rider. For a list of new paperwork that will be required, please see the “Forms Required for New LTC Rider” section below. Existing IUL policies are eligible for the New LTC Rider. Click the link above for more information.
  • Cost of insurance rates you can count on. At Nationwide®, our primary focus is helping you protect what matters most. That’s why we design and price our life insurance products to help withstand economic fluctuations and other challenges that may come up over time. We’re proud of avoiding increases to our in-force universal life (UL) rates, with our only exception being a small administrative fee increase in 2010 on a set of policies we acquired from another insurance company. The table at the link above lists the non-guaranteed cost of insurance (COI) rate changes we’ve applied to in-force UL insurance products. You’ll notice our many rate decreases over the years. Click the link above for more information.

Need help with any of Nationwide's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

North American

Need help with any of North American's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

Prudential

  • PruLife UL Protector Product Changes. New pricing effective February 27. Prudential continually strives to offer a relevant suite of product solutions at a competitive price that align with the needs of your customers. With that in mind, we are introducing new pricing on PruLife UL Protector, effective February 27, 2017, pending state approval. This price change is necessary to maintain the sustainability of UL Protector during this ongoing period of historically low interest rates. We will continue to monitor pricing on our entire suite of products and exercise the financial discipline that has helped Prudential provide enduring value to its clients for over 140 years. Reprice details: Level pay increases will range from 4 – 10% varying by cell. Average increase of 6% for ages 55 – 75. Single pays increases will range from 9 – 19%. Average increase of 12% for ages 55 – 75. CTPs will be increased. Generally, CTPs will be higher than level pay premiums. Face amount limits will be removed on applied for policies using the new rates. Please note: different rules and dates apply to this transition, please refer to the transition rules for further detail.
  • Prudential Term Essential®. On Monday February 27, the repriced Term Essential® will be introduced.
  • Rate Changes for Term Essential in 2017. We continuously review our product portfolio to offer a competitive suite of products that meet the needs of consumers. Based on a recent review, we will be introducing the following enhancements to Term Essential. Changes to Rates: Improves competitiveness across more age ranges, targeted increases to some rates, mostly within the smoker category to maintain sustainability. Reduced Modal Factors: Monthly factor will drop from 8% to 5%, aligns more closely with industry standard. Benefit Payout Options: Death benefit can be distributed to beneficiaries in several payments over time, now part of the Term Essential presentation. These changes solidify our ability to offer your customers term life insurance at a very attractive premium, while sustaining our position as an industry leader. Please click the link above for more information.

Need help with any of Prudential's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

Securian

  • Orion IUL: Product Highlights. How is Orion IUL different? Uncapped account options to maximize crediting potential, optimized accumulation potential when max funded, WriteFit Underwriting™ program to help get your client's policy issued faster. Click the link above for more info.
  • New Term Rates Bring New Opportunities. By dropping term life insurance rates up to 31 percent, updating our term bands and allowing for up to best class underwriting for Express Issue, we’re making it easy for you to sell more term. See link above for rates and conditions.
  • Discover Securian's newest IUL products & enter to win $500. In 2006, we brightened the indexed life marketplace with Eclipse. Coming soon, Securian's latest product brings together our strong indexed life heritage, as well as product and digital innovations to redefine the life insurance experience. Watch for emails leading up to the launch, as we highlight a distinct feature of the product. Attend an upcoming webinar to learn about these and other product features, and earn a $5 Starbucks® gift card along with a chance to win a $500 Visa® gift card!¹ Click the link above to learn more.

Need help with any of Securian's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

Symetra

  • LifeTrends: Symetra's UL-G 3.0 Overview Analysis. On Wednesday, January 18th, 2017, Symetra launched UL-G 3.0, an update of their preexisting single-life guaranteed UL offering. Rate revisions were minimal. Symetra did, however, remove first-year premium restrictions—five times the target premium—that were installed just two months prior. As a result, Symetra maintains its outstanding positioning in full-pay scenarios and returns as a strong play for single-premium clients and 1035 exchanges. Premium increases were minimal at lower death benefits, affecting only clients 75 and older. Thus, UL-G 3.0 remains a top offering for clients over 40 in full-pay scenarios. With its quick reversal on premium limitations, UL-G easily reasserts itself in single-pay scenarios as a top-tier offering for nearly every age and non-rated risk class, opening the door again for strong consideration with policy review using 1035 exchanges. Symetra also eliminated the product’s banding at higher death benefits, formerly known as ULG’s Premier Pricing Program. Pricing at death benefits below $2,000,000 was left relatively untouched. Targets were mostly unchanged, remaining among the middle of NLG competitors. Rates were uploaded to the LifeTrends website on Thursday, January 19th, 2017.
  • LifeTrends: Symetra's SUL-G 2.0 Overview Analysis. On Wednesday, January 18th, 2017, Symetra released the latest iteration of their survivorship guaranteed UL offering, now noted as version 2.0. SUL-G, which debuted at the end of May 2014, had held its pricing since that time, offering the best premiums in the market place. The newly released version 2.0 remains a strong offering, which is further enhanced by the removal of the recently imposed premium limitation. When guaranteeing for a lifetime, SUL-G offered the lowest premiums for most full-pay scenarios and a handful of limited-pay scenarios. The product was perched around the edges of the top quartile when guarantees were limited. Following the reprice, SUL-G 2.0 clings to top-quartile positioning with full-pays, lifetime coverage; however, it drops to the middle of the pack with short-pay structures and limited guarantees. One significant area of strength opened up with SUL-G 2.0, which resides with single-pays. With this release, Symetra removed the premium limitation restriction of five times the target premium (which was only in place for a few months – since November 2016). Now, single-pays are the product’s most consistent competitive strength, particularly flourishing with limited guarantees. For an additional 3%, consumers can add the Return of Premium Rider. Even with the extra charge, SUL-G 2.0 still competes well against Mutual of Omaha and American General’s guaranteed refund options that are baked into the base policy. To counterbalance the removal of the premium limitation restriction, on SUL-G 2.0, Symetra now limits a policy’s maximum face amount to $7.5 million, a drop from the previous versions $15 million. Targets were reduced from 120% of the full-pay premium to 105%, which is more in line with SULG’s competitors. This left most targets toward the bottom half of the guaranteed survivorship market where premiums are competitive. Rates were uploaded to the LifeTrends website on Thursday, January 19th, 2017.

Need help with any of Symetra's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.

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