Debbie Kennedy: Will Covid-19 be the death of underwriting?

“Our revaluation of the way we underwrite may need to be accelerated”

clock • 3 min read

In her latest article for COVER, LifeSearch chief executive, Debbie Kennedy, reviews where protection underwriting can be innovated following the Covid-19 pandemic to the benefit of all market participants and consumers.

Covid-19 and its impact on the protection market has faded away as being one of our top risks, but should we be ready now for the indirect impacts of the pandemic on how we underwrite? We have shifted into a reluctant acceptance of the difficulties of securing face-to-face GP appointments, the multi-year waiting lists, and the inevitability of more undiagnosed conditions. As a protection industry our underwriting has long been the envy of other markets due, in part, to our access to cradle-to-grave patient medical histories - the gold standard of evidence, the GP report (GPR). Over...

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