March 2021 Carrier Updates
Last Updated: March 26
In addition to the carrier updates below, you may also be interested in:
- Our compilation post on how to market online: our best and most relevant posts for marketing in a digital-only environment
- Our ongoing, constantly updated list of non-med carrier options
- Our post on taking your agency digital
AIG
- Fully Underwritten Select-A-Term Policies Could Be Eligible to Convert to a Permanent Policy With the Accelerated Access Solution Chronic Illness Rider. Select-a-Term policies that are eligible are: *Issued in the past 5 years and attained age up to 60 or younger. *Underwriting class of Standard and better (no table rating, no flat extra). Reach out to your brokerage manager for a list of eligible cases.
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
- How COVID‑19 Full Vaccinations Will Impact Underwriting. Special considerations for individuals who have had full vaccination against COVID‑19 have been made. If a proposed insured can provide documentation of full vaccination against COVID‑19, normal underwriting rules can be applied for cases within retention. A copy of the vaccination card showing full vaccination has been completed will serve as documentation. Please see the COVID‑19 FAQs here for additional details.
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.
Cincinnati Life
- How COVID‑19 Full Vaccinations Will Impact Underwriting. Cincinnati Life’s Rapid Review accelerated underwriting process can simplify the life insurance application process for your clients. With no medical exams or lab testing, qualified clients will receive an offer within three business days. And, applicants who do not qualify for Rapid Review seamlessly continue through traditional underwriting with the same products and competitive rates.
- Cincinnati Life’s Rapid Review accelerated underwriting process is now available. Details, including guidelines and our FAQ can be found at the link above.
Need help with any of Cincinnati Life's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
John Hancock
- Expanded Vitality Face Amounts.The maximum face amount for earning John Hancock Vitality credits and/or receiving premium discounts has increased from $20M to $30M.* Perm customers can now earn policy credits on policies with face amounts up to $30M when they add the Vitality PLUS rider. Term customers can now purchase up to $30M in death benefit on Vitality Term or Protection Term with the Vitality PLUS rider.
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.
Mutual of Omaha
- Processing delays for Simplified Issue Business. At this time, we continue to receive unprecedented volumes of new business, which is leading to extended service levels. We are addressing this issue by increasing our staff, and reallocating internal resources where applicable to assist. Additionally, our underwriting team continues to work extra time on nights and weekends to ensure your business is handled as quickly as possible. We continue to focus on electronically submitted business with automated underwriting (instant decision) and returned requirements.
- Updated Other Than Applied Process. Effective March 1, 2021, the other than applied processes listed below have been updated. *Declined Spouse: When both spouses apply and one is declined, underwriting will issue the approved spouse with a reduction in partner allowance percentage and remove Shared Care, if applicable. No hold will occur. *Rate Class or Benefit Selection with Shared Care: When one or both spouses are approved other than applied due to rate class or benefit selection, a communication is sent to the application designated contact notifying them of the required changes. We will hold issue for 7 days. *Underwriting Evidence: When an application is approved other than applied due to underwriting evidence, a communication is sent to the application designated contact notifying them of the required changes. We will hold issue for 7 days.
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.
OneAmerica
- New for California: Updated asset-based LTC loan/withdrawal process. In an effort to help clients better understand the impact of taking a loan or withdrawal from their asset-based LTC policy, California will now require policy owners to sign a letter outlining this impact before we can process a loan or withdrawal. This will affect California Asset-Care®, Annuity Care®, Annuity Care II and Indexed Annuity Care policies and contracts issued on or after Jan. 1, 2021. When a policyholder requests a loan or withdrawal, the insurer may not prohibit these transactions if loans and withdrawals are allowed by the policy or contract and must provide notification of policy values regarding the requested transaction. Before the requested transaction can be processed, the following steps must be taken by the insurer and the policyholder:
- OneAmerica® will send the policyholder a letter notifying them of policy values and showing values both before and after the transaction.
- The policyholder must review these policy values, approve the request and send the signed letter back to our Home Office within 30 days.
- Expedited Underwriting: Expanded and Simplified. As of February 24th, OneAmerica is expanding their expedited underwriting program and simplifying the calculations to determine who qualifies. Get the specifics on these enhancements and review the revised Care Solutions Process Guide to get started.
- Annuity Care® Guaranteed Interest Rates changing March 15. On March 15, 2021, the Guaranteed Interest Rate (GIR) for new issues of Annuity Care will change in some states. The GIR will decrease to 0.55% in approved states. What isn’t changing: Current LTC fund rate This change will ensure Annuity Care can offer the highest LTC value possible in low interest rate environments. At this time, the LTC fund will continue growing at the current rate of 1.25%.
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.
Pacific Life
- New Rates for PL Promise Term Life Insurance. On March 29, 2021, Pacific Life Insurance Company is adjusting rates for PL Promise Term,1 a product specifically designed to serve the death benefit protection needs of the broad market consumer (household incomes of $50K to $250K). Rates have been refreshed to increase consistency for solid competitiveness across all combinations of terms, rate classes, male/female, and issue ages. A 60-day transition period is provided.
Need help with any of Pacific Life's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Principal
- Disability and life insurance policies. Beginning April 1, 2021, the Know Your Customer Questionnaire will be required with all new applications for disability insurance or life insurance, where an organization/entity will be either the owner or paying the premiums. Additional things to know:
- The questionnaire will be required prior to policy issue. If the form isn’t received with the application, a pending requirement for it will appear on your pending business report.
- The form will be available in paper application packages beginning April 1. For disability, the electronic application packages will also include the form. For life, the form will be available as part of electronic application packages at a later date.
- You only need to provide the completed questionnaire for a specific organization/entity one time. We won’t need a new one, for example, when a new participant is being added to an existing plan, unless there has been a significant change in ownership. When you submit an application, be sure to indicate that the questionnaire was previously provided.
- For life insurance applications where the owner will be a trust, a new Trust Certification and Indemnification form should be used instead of the Know Your Customer Questionnaire.
- Informal application clarification. We’ve had a few questions regarding the minimum applicant age for informal applications and want to clarify: We will accept applications for issue ages less than 50 if the planned annual premium is $10,000 or greater. We encourage you to be sure to include the planned premium amount as part of your submission in order to avoid confusion and potential rejection of the application for age or face amount minimums. The remainder of the informal application submission guidelines are listed below.
- Minimum face amount of $5 million
- If less than $5 million or under age 50, must meet $10,000 in planned annual premium
- Minimum issue age 50; maximum issue age 75
- Ratings limited to Table 6 up to age 59 and Table 2 for ages 60 and over
- Term or permanent product
- Cover sheet that includes planned premium amount and offer needed to win the case
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.
Prudential
- eInterview Expansion to Fast App. Beginning March 22, 2021, eInterview will be expanded to the Fast App submission process for certain case
scenarios. For eligible cases, the client will receive an email from Prudential with instructions and a link to the online questionnaire. Fast App cases that don’t meet eligibility criteria will continue to route to Prudential’s teleinterview vendor for ticket fulfillment. Eligibility will be expanded to additional Fast App scenarios in the coming months. Fast App cases - eInterview eligibility criteria:
- Owner cannot be other than the insured
- No prepayment / Limited Insurance Agreement
- Not available in the following states: CT, FL, LA, MA, ME, MT, NH, NY, OH, PA, TX
- No replacement for all states
- No existing insurance for NAIC states: AK, AL, AR, AZ, CO, CT, HI, IA, KY, LA, MD, ME, MO, MS, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, OH, OR, RI, SC, SD, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV
- The Alliance Account Will No Longer Be Offered as a Settlement Option. Effective March 29, 2021, the Alliance Account will no longer be offered as a settlement option and will be removed from the Individual Life claim forms. The Alliance Account will not be available as a settlement option for any claim in which the first notice of death was reported after the effective date.
- Enhancement to Electronic Health Records Process. In the spirit of our continuing transformation, we are excited to share an enhancement to our current Human API Electronic Health Records (EHR) process. Beginning Monday, February 22, Human API will have access to new data sources, starting with Epic Gateway, in addition to the patient portal. This provides us with an alternative way to obtain EHRs when the client does not have a patient portal or is unable to connect through their portal. Clients are still encouraged to use the patient portal process, but this gives us another option. In many cases, we are anticipating that we’ll receive records within a few days, but if we are unable to obtain records via the portal or the other data sources within 5 days, we will revert to the traditional APS on Day 6, which is 8 days earlier than we do in our current Human API process. Human API’s update should be transparent to you and your staff. Clients will continue to receive the Human API email; however, the link will now be valid for 5 days.
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
- Premium Deposit Account Rate Change Effective April 1, 2021. Effective April 1, 2021, Securian is increasing its Premium Deposit Account (PDA) interest rates by .25%. New rates will be reflected on the financial professional site and in the illustration system on April 1, 2021.
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
- Symetra Term Now Available for High-Net-Worth Foreign Nationals. Symetra Term Life Insurance will be available with high-net-worth foreign national (HNWFN) market program, effective March 1, 2021. Click here to visit the website.
- Temporary Death Benefit and Premium Limits for Permanent and Term Products. As a result of the continued low-interest-rate environment, Symetra will be implementing the following temporary death benefit and premium limits effective Monday, March 15, 2021: Temporary death benefit limit: $20 million; Temporary premium limit: $1 million.
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
- Important Transamerica Update - Term & FFIUL Policy e-Delivery. Later in 2021, Transamerica will be launching a brand new e-Delivery process. An interim e-Delivery process launched this week. This e-Delivery process is currently available only on Term and FFIUL policies. e-Delivery will be Transamerica's default delivery method now if the following is received: 1. The ‘Consent to do Business Electronically and Electronic Delivery’ form ECONS2017 and/or... 2. The ‘e-Delivery Terms and Conditions of Use’ form EINFOC0716CA. If 1 of these forms is received prior to printing the policy, the other form can be obtained on delivery. Transamerica's system will automatically add the req for the 2nd missing form if one of the forms is not received. You will need to let Transamerica know if the client does not want e-Delivery if one of these forms has been submitted.
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
- The NT-proBNP Advantage. Zurich does not require EKGs under $10,000,000 of face amount. Instead, we leverage the NT-proBNP blood test. In absence of any cardiac history or other risk factors (e.g. treated or elevated cholesterol, hypertension, or family history of cardiac disease), we will allow the following results without taking adverse action:
AGE RESULT
40-59 1000
60-70 1200
71-75 1500
76-85 2000
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.
