Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Cambridge, UK (May 20, 2019) – A fleet of driverless cars working together to keep traffic moving smoothly can improve overall traffic flow by at least 35 percent, researchers have shown. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, programmed a small fleet of miniature robotic cars to drive on a multi-lane track and observed how the traffic flow changed when one of the cars stopped. When the cars were not driving cooperatively, any cars behind the stopped car had to stop or slow down and wait for a gap in the traffic, as would typically happen on a real road. A queue quickly formed behind the stopped car and overall traffic flow was slowed. However, when the cars were communicating with each other and driving cooperatively, as soon as one car stopped in the inner lane, it sent a signal to all the other cars. Cars in the outer lane that were in immediate proximity of the stopped car slowed down slightly so that cars in the inner lane were able to quickly pass the stopped car without having to stop or slow down significantly. For autonomous cars to be safely used on real roads, we need to know how...

Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA) May 21– May 21–Spokane Valley funeral home director Trent Nielsen is trying to guide grieving families through the waiting game. After the untimely death of an insured loved one, families prepare for the usual end-of-life expenses, including funeral costs. That means getting a signed death certificate, with a cause of death, to submit to insurance companies for payment of benefits. But that process, which used to take a few weeks, is now taking, on average, closer to five or six months in Spokane County. State law requires that the county medical examiner or coroner perform an autopsy in circumstances that extend beyond just potential criminal activity or traffic fatalities, including when a person is found dead and hasn’t been to a physician in several years. In all cases, the person’s blood is tested for the presence of drugs, a procedure performed by a single laboratory in Seattle that has been inundated with cases in recent years, holding up the end-of-life process for those left behind. That’s leaving many families with no access to money that could help cover the thousands of dollars in funeral costs, Nielsen said. “Usually life insurance is purchased with the idea those funds...

Medavie Blue Cross has opened up GeneYouIn’s Pillcheck system to plan members and treating physicians to help people get the right medication at the right dose. The pharmacogenetics pilot is a confidential test where samples are collected using a simple cheek swab. The system – from a field of study that combines pharmacology and genomics – analyses a patient’s DNA and determines how their body processes medications. The samples are destroyed once the report is complete. Rebecca Smith, director, Group Life & Disability Services at Medavie Blue Cross, said the pilot will help people find out if they need a new dosage or different medication. She told LHP: “In our day-to-day, we see a lot of individuals try medication after medication, trying to sort through [all the products] because there are so many drugs out there. “It takes a long time to get through a course of medication and if it doesn’t work, you have to pick the next one and you have to ween yourself off one and start the next. Some of them have side effects that can be very significant for individuals.” Test results can be used by a disability claimant’s treating physician to help select medications...

For many life insurance policyholders with the opportunity for a life settlement, the only important question is usually “how much is mine worth”? To get an answer, they may go to a life settlement provider and get an appraisal, which would give a dollar value to their policy. That’s a sensible way to get information for financial planning purposes or tax reasons. But as two experts warned in a recent piece on ThinkAdvisor, relying solely on estimates can be a mistake. According to Robin S. Weinberger and Peter Katz of Life Insurance Settlements Inc, estimates from brokers and provides generally do not qualify as a valid appraisal for tax purposes. And life settlements can also fall short for financial-planning purposes since it only offers a guide as to the worth of a policy on the life-settlement market or, in the case of providers, an estimate of what the individual offer is willing to offer. “[L]ife settlement value and cash surrender value are not the only way to measure a policy’s worth,” the article said. While free appraisals may be used by life settlement providers and brokers as marketing tools to foster interest in life settlements, financial advisors must take other...

For those who own a life insurance policy, the ability to leave behind a death benefit opens the door to several estate-planning advantages. But maximizing those advantages requires a deep understanding of the rules governing life insurance, not least of which are the ones concerning the designation of beneficiaries. This is evident in a new note explaining how Ontarians can use assets such as life insurance and registered savings in succession planning. “In Canada, the receipt of a life insurance death benefit on a policy owned by an individual owner is not subject to income tax as it is considered a receipt of capital,” O’Sullivan Estate Lawyers LLP said. Life insurance benefits designated as payable to a beneficiary aside from the insured’s estate, the note added, generally do not form part of the value of the value of the estate used in calculating Ontario Estate Administration Tax, which amounts to around 1.5% of an estate’s value. The Ontario Insurance Act also provides an opportunity to shield life insurance proceeds from the insured person’s creditors. If the proceeds are designated as payable to any beneficiary irrevocably or to the insured’s spouse, child, grandchild, or parent, the insured’s creditors will have no...

While trends such as increased life expectancy, medical inflation, and aging populations conspire to prompt consistent growth in health insurance premiums, rising challenges are forcing industry players to seek pre-emptive and digital-focused solutions. “[L]ow interest rates, intense competition, internal operational inefficiencies, and market disruptions from new entrants are continuing to put pressure on health insurers,” global consultancy firm Capgemini said in a new report outlining the top technological trends in health insurance. “The healthcare sector is also experiencing a trend of increasing healthcare costs fuelled primarily by expensive experimental treatments, increase in non-communicable chronic lifestyle diseases, and higher life expectancy.” As health insurers face an intensifying need to deliver cost-effective care, Capgemini said, they are leveraging technology to perform a demanding balancing act: shifting toward a population health model while satisfying customers’ demands for a convenient and personalized experience. One crucial step toward that is to simplify the healthcare journey and improve treatment adherence, which is accomplished through population health management tools like apps and web-based services to customers and their care members. Aside from reducing healthcare costs and service costs, the report said insurers that have adopted this approach benefit from improved customer experience and brand presence. As chronic,...

The Travel Health Insurance Association (THIA) has launched the Travel Insurance Program (TRIP), an online training module. Developed by the THIA’s educational department, the program was created “by the industry for the industry,” association spokesperson Adrienne Simic told Insurance Journal. Nine modules It should take each participant 10 hours to complete the nine interactive capsules that TRIP comprises. The program covers travel insurance products, pricing and underwriting, sales and distribution, assistance and claims, compliance and regulation, and ethics and fraud.  The association says that the studies are intended for travel insurance professionals such as life insurance adivsors, travel agents and professionals in travel assistance, or students and individuals who are interested in joining the travel industry. Outcome: Certification People who complete the training and pass the final exam will receive travel insurance certification. This certification is not an official license to practice. Rather it is a tool for professionals who want to certify their knowledge and earn travellers’ trust. “We want this certification to become a superior standard in the travel insurance industry. We want consumers to know that they can buy travel insurance from a certified vendor,” Simic explains. Enrolment costs between $99 and $285, and participants can earn...

Blockchain consortium also announces new members in property and casualty sector Malvern, PA (May 20, 2019) – The Institutes RiskStream Collaborative™ and LIMRA announced today that eight companies have joined the life and annuity sector of the risk management and insurance industry’s first enterprise-level blockchain consortium. Seven additional companies have also joined the property and casualty sector, bringing the total number of member companies to 39. The Institutes, a leading provider of risk management and insurance education and research, launched the not-for-profit consortium in 2017, and in 2018 partnered with LIMRA, the largest global research trade association for the life insurance and financial services industry, the life, annuity and retirement sector, to support the life and annuity sector. The RiskStream Collaborative is building blockchain solutions that will lower industry transaction costs, improve the customer experience, and increase the speed and security of data transfers among customers, industry stakeholders, and third parties. New members in the life and annuity sector include: American Family Life Insurance Company* American Fidelity Corporation Horace Mann Educators Corporation* John Hancock Nationwide* Prudential Financial, Inc. Securian Financial USAA* * Also property and casualty members. New members in the property and casualty sector include: Aon CNA Financial Corporation...

Novarica profiles more than 40 vendors in 500-page 12th annual report which provides extensive details on vendor solutions Boston, MA (May 14, 2019) – Property/casualty insurers continue to replace their legacy policy administration systems (PAS), with the goals of improving speed to market, supporting new product types, enhancing the use of analytics, and enabling digital channels. In its 12th annual Novarica Market Navigator report on Property/Casualty Policy Administration Systems, research and advisory firm Novarica profiles 42 vendor solutions, providing over 500 pages of information to help insurers understand and compare these complex systems. “Insurer IT budgets are primarily dedicated to the maintenance, modernization, and replacement of core systems,” said Martina Conlon, Executive Vice President of Research and Consulting and co-author of Novarica’s new report. “CIOs should not expect a core system to encompass all available emerging technology within its borders. Rather, they should consider how a new system’s architecture will provide the flexibility and agility needed to take advantage of future technology and allow integration with future partners.” Property/Casualty policy administration systems 2019 (Novarica Market Navigator) A preview of the brief is available online. Summary This report provides an overview of the available policy administration systems and suites for US...

The Regulation respecting Alternative Distribution Methods, which governs online sales of insurance products and distribution without representatives, was published today by the Autorité des marchés financiers. This regulation supplement several articles of An Act mainly to improve the regulation of the financial sector, the protection of deposits of money and the operation of financial institutions, better known as Bill 141. Adopted on June 13, 2018, the Act notably amends the Act respecting the distribution of financial products and services, the Act respecting insurance and the Code Civil of Québec. “The AMF endeavoured to clearly understand the issues and perspectives of stakeholders and consumers during the public consultation process held last fall,” says Louis Morisset, President and CEO of the Autorité des marchés financiers. “The result is a robust regulation that protects consumers while letting the industry innovate.”  “The Regulation imposes on independent firms and businesses the same obligations as those that apply to representatives, which lets consumers be protected regardless of the means they used to purchase a financial product or service,” adds Frédéric Pérodeau, Superintendent, Client Services and Distribution Oversight at the AMF. At the consultation the AMF organized in October, over 20 stakeholders shared their opinion of the draft...