June 2020 Carrier Updates

July 2020 Carrier Updates

Last Updated: July 31

In addition to the carrier updates below, you may also be interested in:

NOTE: As of July 3, EMSI ceased business operations. As we get responses from carriers on how they're adapting, we're adding them to our spreadsheet of COVID-19 updates. Click here to download that spreadsheet.

Allianz

  • Accelerated Underwriting Updates. (1) Accelerated Underwriting for Preferred Risk Classes expanded from $1.5 million to $3 million. In addition, Premium Finance business will now be able to go through Accelerated Underwriting, assuming it meets the program guidelines. (2) Alternatives to exam requirements If your client does not qualify for Accelerated Underwriting, we have the ability to make fully underwritten decisions using alternative information sources instead of lab work initiated by Allianz.
  • Client Communication Regarding eDelivery of Contract. During a review of client annuity contracts, Allianz discovered that although clients had requested to receive their contract via e-delivery, the notification email containing links to their contract has not yet been sent. Contracts can be accessed via Allianz's website and they will be sending an email with the link to view and download contracts.

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

American National

  • ANICO Temporarily Suspends Quick Quote Submission. American National has temporarily suspended Quick Quotes through Aug 31, 2020. Please contact your brokerage manager for more information.
  • EMSI Service Provider Announces Closure. If you have any pending Paramedical exams scheduled with EMSI, please reschedule ASAP. If the Paramedical exam has already been completed, then you do not need to reschedule. The quickest, most effective way to order an exam is to go to the exam vendor websites and use the office locator functionality.

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.

Brighthouse

  • Administrative Change Client Notification Mailing. A mailing for Brighthouse Financial clients will begin on or about June 15, 2020. The purpose of the mailing is to confirm that the third-party administrator of their contract(s)/policy(s) is Alliance-One Services, Inc. (AOSI). AOSI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of DXC Technology Company and is one of the largest service providers in the United States. Contracts will continue to be administered in accordance with Brighthouse Financial® insurance company’s policies and procedures. No action is required. There is no change to servicing contact information at this time. Please see the links below for more details.

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

Equitable

  • New Temporary Program: Additional Offer. When reviewing current life insurance applications, Underwriters will now determine if clients are eligible for additional coverage with no additional requirements. Financial Professionals will be notified of all cases that are eligible.

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

Global Atlantic

  • EMSI Ceases Operations Effective Immediately. In light of EMSI’s announcement, we recommend contacting an alternate vendor to reschedule and/or reorder exams you currently have with EMSI. See the list to view preferred vendors.

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

  • EMSI FAQs. Responses to Frequently Asked Questions you can reference in future conversations.
  • Administrative Change Client Notification Mailing. John Hancock is experiencing favorable outcomes from our collaborations with Human API and Clareto. Please check JHSalesHub.com/COVID-19 regularly for information related to doing business with us at this time.

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

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

  • Pricing Update – Lincoln LifeGuarantee® SUL (2019) . Effective July 13, 2020, Lincoln is announcing pricing updates on Lincoln LifeGuarantee® Survivorship Universal Life (2019). Lincoln LifeGuarantee® SUL (2019) – 07/13/20 will replace Lincoln LifeGuarantee® SUL (2019) – 11/11/19 for all states that are approved at rollout. The following pricing updates apply: ▪ Premiums have increased 20% on average ▪ Target premiums have increased to be aligned with updated lifetime level premiums. A transition period will begin on July 13, 2020 and end on July 27, 2020. All states will be automatically approved at rollout with the exception of New York (where the product is not currently available).
  • New Online Client Interview Completion Option for Lincoln TermAccel®. Beginning July 20, 2020, clients will now have two options for completing their Part I and Part II application interview questions: online or phone. This new online option provides clients with a choice in how they provide their personal information to Lincoln. A secure link is emailed directly to the client, following receipt of submission at Lincoln. Client may begin the online interview immediately upon receiving the email from Lincoln. The online platform is mobile-friendly and can be completed on any device. An auto-save feature enables clients to stop and come back later to complete the interview, with no loss of previously entered information. At the end of the interview, the client will have the option to select a preferred date and time for their lab appointment, if required (the determination for labs will be made later in the process, after the case goes through automated underwriting). Status updates will be provided within the policy details page on the Pending Website and in Automated Email Notifications. Underwriting decisions are based on the information your client provides during their interview; a Pre-interview Worksheet is provided to help your client prepare. Additional resources and training materials will be provided on July 20, 2020.
  • Impact of EMSI Closure. Lincoln only receives exams from EMSI that are field-ordered. For any outstanding exams not completed by EMSI, the Agency will need to leverage APPS, ExamOne or IMS and reorder a new exam. For any outstanding Lincoln-ordered APS through EMSI, Lincoln will conduct an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) search to determine if there are available results for Underwriter review. If EMR is not available for these cases, Lincoln will place a new APS order with another Vendor. For any outstanding field-ordered APS through EMSI not completed, the Agency will need to place an APS order with another vendor, preferably: Express Imaging Services (EIS), Parameds.com or JetStream. Alternatively, the Agency can discuss potential EMR solutions with their Underwriter (if available) and/or request that Lincoln order the APS from another Vendor.

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

Mutual of Omaha

  • LTC Issue Age Restriction Lifted in Additional States. Mutual of Omaha is lifting restrictions for LTC applications age 65 and over in additional states effective July 6, 2020. Please refer to the document linked above for a current list of all states and effective dates.

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

  • Response to EMSI Closing. Case Managers will be proactively contacting Insurance Professionals, Financial Professionals, BGA offices, and other firms who have EMSI listed as their vendor.

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.

OneAmerica

  • Changes to Asset-Care® in California launching on July 25. OneAmerica® is committed to the asset-based long-term care market and to offering products that bring value to both our agents and the clients we serve together. To maintain the viability of our Asset-Care® product in California and continue offering it until the updated product is available in this state, we are making key updates starting July 25. The changes we’re making to Asset-Care in California will allow us to adjust our overall product pricing to align with current market conditions while maintaining a strong product. They also reflect an update to changes we made to the base policy premium expense charges (PEC) last September. Therefore, on July 25: 1. New, generally increased Continuation of Benefits (COB) rates will apply. 2. Base policy PEC will be reduced.

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

Principal

  • Temporary Adjustments to Life Insurance New Business Guidelines.
    • Drop ticket is required for certain term business. All Principal® Term applications with face amounts of $500,000 and less must be submitted via drop ticket, except for cases where the insured is a resident of New York. This electronic fillable short form allows you to quickly provide basic client information. And once you drop a ticket, your client receives an email link so they can complete the rest of the application online. This seamless process helps expedite policy-issue by ensuring more complete and accurate application information, usually resulting in fewer underwriting follow ups. This new requirement is effective immediately. But to allow you time to transition for cases you’re currently working on, we’ll accept any paper application or E-App received in the home office by Sept. 1, 2020. This overview provides more details on how the drop ticket process works. To submit a drop ticket, you can access the Principal Life Drop Ticket system at any time with no login required, iPipeline Drop Ticket system, or use your organization’s system that has been fully integrated with Principal.
    • Informal application guidelines are adjusted. Effective immediately, the required minimum face amount for an application increases from $1 million to $3 million. Additionally, the maximum insured age for Principal Survivorship Universal Life Protector IIISM applications is now 75. These changes apply to both new informal applications and those we’ve previously received but haven’t yet completed. The new face amount minimum applies to all products and application states. For cases below the minimum, Quick Quote is available. This option provides a tentative risk assessment based on a brief summary of pertinent medical information you provide via an email request.
  • Individual Disability Insurance: More states approve online application Part B. Effective July 13, applicants in CT, DC, DE, FL, MT, ND, and SD are now able to complete Part B of the individual disability insurance application online.
  • New Accelerated Underwriting team. Principal Accelerated UnderwritingSM (AU) offers a quick and efficient process to get qualifying cases issued. To further expand the efficiencies, we’ve created a dedicated team to focus exclusively on underwriting AU cases. Starting July 13, you’ll see the following changes on some of your AU cases: Emails you receive will show as coming from the Principal Accelerated Underwriting Team rather than a specific underwriter. If you have follow-up questions, reply to the email and it will be directed to the underwriter working the case. Pending case status will reflect the Life AU Team. By taking this approach, we’ll be better able to get your cases issued as expediently as possible.
  • Underwriting News. Effective July 1, Principal is returning to normal capacity, auto and jumbo limits. They will no longer have the $20,000,000 maximum case size limit. They will still have restrictions noted in the April 9th email regarding maximum risk classes. As an example, for someone up to age 75 and Table 6 or better our stated capacity is $10,000,000, auto would be $50,000,000 and jumbo $65,000,000. However, because of the risk class limitation at ages 60-80, the auto/binding/jumbo amounts for that age grouping are still $10M/$50M/$65M but only up to Table 2 or a flat extra of $5.00.

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

Protective

  • July 27, 2020 COVID-19 Update. Protective has simplified the underwriting guidelines it introduced on April 15 in response to the spread of COVID-19. The new guidelines are listed below. These temporary changes apply to fully underwritten life insurance applications and do not apply to applicants who are approved for instant issue of simplified issue life insurance, including single payment whole life or Executive Benefit life products approved on a guaranteed issue basis. These revised limitations simplify the assessment for all ages. In addition, they now allow for possible coverage on applicants age 60 – 79 with underlying medical conditions by including those conditions within the risk class outlined below. For ages 0 – 59 rated greater than Table 4, we will continue to carefully consider the underlying conditions (including significant obesity). For more detail, click the link above and view the "Underwriting" tab.
  • Accelerate the Process for Permanent Coverage. Protective is making more core products available for PLUS accelerated underwriting: Protective Advantage Choice UL, Protective Indexed Choice UL, Protective Lifetime Assurance UL.

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

Prudential

  • Exciting News: ReleasePoint. Our transition of APS retrieval services from EMSI to ReleasePoint was completed on Tuesday, July 21. Beginning this day, Prudential’s Proactive Case Status (PCS) emails and Web Case Status (WCS) will be connected to ReleasePoint to provide the regular case status updates that you’re accustomed to. Thank you for your patience. Your Prudential New Business team will also have access to the ReleasePoint website and is available to help you with any questions not answered online. As a reminder, please continue to contact your Prudential team for APS retrieval status if the information available in Web Case Status is not sufficient.
  • eInterview Update. In June of 2019, Prudential introduced an electronic interview (eInterview) questionnaire option for life insurance applicants, as a streamlined digital alternative to the telephone interview. Effective August 17, 2020, PruXpress Worksheet applications will connect exclusively to eInterview for fulfillment of Part B of the application.
  • eIssue Now Available on Term Conversion Cases. Effective July 20, 2020, the majority of Term Conversion policies will be issued via the same eIssue process as New Business policies. How Does eIssue Work? The policy will be issued on the same day it is approved. An email is sent to the firm case manager when a policy is issued, with a link to a PDF copy via web case status on pruxpress.com. The PDF policy may be printed for wet signature delivery, or uploaded into your DocuSign account for eSignature.(Firm approval required for DocuSign use.)
  • New Business Applications for Term Products. Effective August 17, Prudential will be limiting access to the long-form application for term products. It is recommended to submit business via PruXpress Worksheet process.
  • EMSI Update. To prevent any potential delays, please discontinue selecting EMSI as your requested vendor on your Agent’s Report or any worksheets to ensure your cases are being handled as intended. Pending Prudential ordered Paramed exams will be moved to APPS. This vendor currently handles the majority of exam orders and has confirmed they can absorb the additional volumes without impact to service.

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.

SBLI

  • Response to EMSI Fulfillment Center Closures. SBLI is internally transferring any EMSI applications and medical requests in the system to other vendors as an absolute priority and remains in full control of the process.

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

Securian

  • Pre-Appointment State Update. Effective July 1st, 2020, Oklahoma is no longer a pre-appointment state. Securian's only pre-appointment states are: Pennsylvania: for all products, Wisconsin: for life products that include long term care.
  • Initial Premium Payments Now Available Online. Paying an initial life insurance premium can be done in three easy steps: (1) Go to securian.com/initial-premium. (2) Enter a few pieces of information. (3) Review and submit.

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

  • Important Enhancements to Symetra's Underwriting Requirements. Symetra has announced the following changes to its underwriting requirements and preferred guidelines. EKG requirements have been removed for clients in these categories:
    • Ages 41-50 with face amounts of $5 million to $10 million
    • Ages 51-69 with face amounts of $250,000 to $5 million
    • Rx checks will be automatically ordered for all cases
    • NT proBNP will be ordered on most blood profiles for cases over age 50

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.

Transamerica

  • EMSI Closes — Requirements Impacted. The following products could be impacted: Transamerica Financial Foundation Index Universal Life, Trendsetter Series, Final expense reinstatements. Starting immediately, send new underwriting requirements to: Exams and labs — APPS (recommended vendor), IMS, or ExamOne; Attending physician statements — parameds.com (recommended vendor) or Express Imaging Services, Inc.

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

Zurich

  • Zurich Survivor IUL now available in CA. Product Highlights: *Competitive on both cash accumulation and death benefit sales; *No multipliers, a simple and transparent. guaranteed bonus structure; *Optional Death Benefit Guarantees up to Age 90; *Two uncapped index interest Accounts options; *Convert two Terms into Zurich Survivor IUL.

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

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