Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Staff | September 24, 2019 The majority of Canadians said they’d either be reluctant to admit (48 per cent) or wouldn’t admit (27 per cent) to a boss or co-worker that they’re suffering from a mental illness, according to a new survey by RBC Insurance. Furthermore, the proportion (27 per cent) who said they wouldn’t admit they’re suffering from a mental illness is almost three-times as high as it was for a physical illness (10 per cent). The top reasons for either not admitting or being reluctant to admit a mental illness are: believing there’s a public stigma around mental health (45 per cent); not wanting to be treated differently (44 per cent); not wanting to be judged (40 per cent); and fear of negative consequences, such as losing their job (36 per cent). Read: Majority of Canadians suffering from a mental-health issue, sleeping disorder: survey The survey also found more Canadians are recognizing depression (53 per cent) and anxiety (41 per cent) as disabilities compared to last year’s survey (47 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively). “It’s encouraging to see that Canadians are making the connection between mental illness and disability, most likely because of educational efforts and the openness of those who...

Policy Check automatically validates insurance policies in seconds to reduce errors and omissions Toronto, ON (Sept. 23, 2019) – Chisel AI, a technology provider for the global insurance industry, has announced an enhanced version of Policy Check, an AI-powered solution that enables commercial insurance carriers and brokers to digitize and standardize the process of checking an insurance policy against a quote, application, submission, expiring policy, or binder in seconds. The latest version of Policy Check has an enhanced user interface that allows underwriters and knowledge workers to spot errors and omissions at a glance and view an on-screen summary of actions required to resolve any errors or inaccuracies. The new UI elevates the user experience and dramatically reduces the time and heavy lifting required to validate policies. Chisel AI debuted the new version of Policy Check at the InsureTech Connect conference in Las Vegas. “Policy Check tackles a significant pain point in the insurance value chain,” said Ron Glozman, CEO of Chisel AI. “Commercial insurance policies are lengthy and complex documents – and someone has to read every page to validate their accuracy. For decades, carriers and brokers have sought to automate this painstaking process of manually checking policies. Policy...

60% of Canadians with mental health concerns are not taking advantage of support tools: 2019 Sun Life Barometer Toronto, ON (Sept. 24, 2019) – Mental health challenges continue to affect the lives of many Canadians. According to the 2019 Sun Life Barometer, 59% of working Canadians have experienced a mental health issue, an increase from 52% in 2017.[1] With these issues on the rise, are Canadians getting the mental health support they need? The numbers show that 60% of working Canadians suffering from mental health issues aren’t accessing support through their workplace benefits and more than three quarters (78%) haven’t used government-funded services. “We all have a role to play in supporting mental health in Canada. As an employer, it’s about creating a safe environment for your employees and ensuring they feel supported throughout their mental health journey,” said Jacques Goulet, President, Sun Life Canada. “Together, we can break down barriers and open the door for communication for someone experiencing a mental health condition. Help is out there, no one should face these challenges on their own.” By 2020, millennials will make up an estimated 50% of the workplace.[2] Two out of three millennials have reported having dealt with a...

Claims adjustor productivity proven to increase by 25% Las Vegas, NV (Sept. 24, 2019) – Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, has launched its ClaimsMonitor.X (CMX) platform that uses artificial intelligence to read claims notes on open files, enabling insurers in the US and Canada to review their progression for increased efficiency and profitability while enhancing the customer service experience for policyholders. Monitoring individual claims can be a costly and time-consuming process for insurers as they seek to manage expenses and improve loss ratio performance while meeting their obligations to policyholders. In collaboration with CLARA analytics (“CLARA”), the leading provider of artificial intelligence technology in the insurance industry, ClaimsMonitor.X leverages Natural Language Processing (NLP) to constantly read claims notes to identify if adjusters are following best practices – or an alert is sent to the supervisor. Aon’s time studies have shown that supervisors spend over 40% of their diary time reviewing open files to determine if the claim is being handled in compliance with the insurer’s internal best practice guidelines. Having the ability to focus on only those claims that require intervention will increase the productivity of a...

Staff | September 24, 2019 The Liberal Party of Canada is promising a number of health-care reforms in its election platform, including a national pharmacare program and improved access to mental-health services. According to a backgrounder document, the Liberals are aiming to “strengthen the Canada Health Act to make sure the full range of mental-health services required by Canadians are available in every province and territory, introduce new accountability standards so that Canadians can know what to expect from the public health system when they need it and continue to crack down on private delivery and extra billing.” Read: Federal election platforms include health-care, pension policy proposals In terms of pharmacare, the Liberal party said it will be guided by the advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare, which it convened in its 2018 budget. The council’s recommendations, announced in March 2019, include establishing the Canada Drug Agency to make drug purchasing more effective and efficient; implementing a national formulary with provinces, territories and other stakeholders to further lower drug prices; and introducing a rare disease drug strategy to help Canadians save on the high cost of these drugs. The backgrounder noted the Liberals expect these measures to run about $6 billion in additional health-care investment over the next...

The British Columbia Securities Commission has imposed a total of $1.7 million of financial sanctions on three B.C. men and two mortgage investment companies after finding they committed fraud. Patrick K. Prinster and David Scott Wright were each ordered to pay $250,000. Donald Bruce Edward Wilson was ordered to pay $150,000 for diverting investors’ funds from mortgages secured by real estate, which was the purpose described in marketing materials. The panel also permanently banned the three from trading in or purchasing securities or exchange contracts, becoming a registrant or promoter, acting in a consultative capacity in the securities market and engaging in investor relations. Three were warned many times The panel said the three diverted the funds and carried out their misconduct “despite warnings and concerns expressed to them from multiple sources.” The panel imposed financial sanctions of more than $560,000 on DominionGrand II Mortgage Investment Corporation, and just over $500,000 on DominionGrand Investment Fund Inc. Almost all of the $1.1 million raised from investors was lost, though the panel did not find evidence that Prinster, Wright or Wilson had been personally enriched by the diversion of investments. Read the original article at insurance-journal.ca

Business Wire Many people just think of life insurance as something useful when there’s a death. But Colonial Life’s new individual whole life insurance coverage announced today has the flexibility to provide benefits while the policyholder is still alive. Colonial Life’s new product debuts in 48 states and the District of Columbia – just in time for a busy enrollment season and Life Insurance Awareness Month. “Life insurance should be a part of every financial protection foundation,” said Rula Kibler, a product manager for Colonial Life. “And our new whole life product offers some great new benefits that can help a policyowner while they are still living.” Some of those accelerated death benefits include: A chronic care rider that provides access to benefits to help with expenses while living with a chronic illness; and A critical illness rider that provides access to benefits following a heart attack, stroke or renal (kidney) failure to help with immediate expenses. Earlier this year, Colonial Life launched a new individual term life coverage that also included several ways for customers to personalize coverage based on their individual needs. The new whole life product is also flexible in other ways beyond living benefits. It also...

Company Launches Underwriting Partner Submissions capability to deliver highly informed, accurate and explainable underwriting decisions as part of its AI operationalization strategy Montréal, QC (Sept. 23, 2019) – Element AI, a global developer of AI software, today announced Submissions capability for its ‘Underwriting Partner’ product—to complement the company’s broader market offering of AI-enabled advisory services and modular AI capabilities. Focused on taking AI from ‘Lab to impact’, the Element AI portfolio aims at ‘operationalizing AI’ for the insurance industry and other enterprise entities. Unveiled at InsureTech Connect 2019 in Las Vegas, Element AI Underwriting Partner Submissions product processes forms and documents to extract information and upload the correct data directly into an insurers’ system of records, while flagging missing information and items for review. By keeping a human-in-the-loop when required, underwriters are freed-up to perform other high-value tasks. With Advisory services already offered, Underwriting Partner Submissions capability is expected to be available in early 2020. “Collaborating with Element AI to integrate the latest AI technology is a bold, disruptive move that we believe will benefit our insurance broker partners and customers by working alongside our underwriters to create a competitive edge from all that unused data. We can leverage this...

Staff | September 23, 2019 Almost half (43 per cent) of female students and young professionals said they feel technology companies don’t really want to hire women, according to a survey by SAP Canada Inc. It also found 54 per cent of survey respondents said technology companies have a bad reputation when it comes to gender equality and 48 per cent said they don’t know how to develop the skills required for a career in technology. Read: Editorial: We are woman: A call for gender diversity, pay equity and workplace mentorship About a third (35 per cent) of those polled said they’ve chosen science, technology, engineering and mathematics for future studies and/or their career. However, among that group, 34 per cent said they don’t have a female role model in the field. The survey also highlighted the regional differences in the perceptions of STEM programs and technology. Among the respondents who opted not to pursue a career in STEM, 46 per cent in Saskatchewan and Manitoba did so because they don’t believe they have the skills for the field, while 16 per cent of respondents in Quebec felt the same. “Young women are hesitating on even considering a career in technology because they don’t believe technology companies sincerely want to give them a chance,” said Kim...

Two new reports from Novarica profile more than 60 players in the data and underwriting ecosystem Boston, MA (Sept. 19, 2019) – Property/Casualty underwriters are increasingly relying on third-party data for everything from property to cyber-risk, and the providers of data are proliferating. A new report from research and advisory firm Novarica, Third-Party Data in Insurance: Overview and Prominent Providers, reviews multiple insurance industry use cases for third-party data and examples of insurers that are investing in this area, and profiles 58 data providers. Insurers are also increasingly leveraging third-party data for analytics augmentation and predictive modeling as well as for validating and cleansing existing data. A companion report, AI-Enabled Data and Analytics in P/C Underwriting: Overview and Prominent Providers, highlights how insurers are leveraging AI-enabled tools to streamline data collection and analysis and profiles eight prominent providers. “Some vendors will say that this new AI-enabled intelligent data is better than — and can replace — the use of some traditional third-party data sources,” said Jeff Goldberg, Executive Vice President of Research and Consulting and lead author of Novarica’s new reports. “That enthusiasm greatly underestimates the importance of structured proprietary data sources, but Novarica does believe both have an important...