The U.S. arm of Munich Re is looking into the possibility that opioid abuse could be common enough among life insurance applicants to be an underwriting concern.
The reinsurer recently began to assess the nature of the problem by polling 126 life underwriters who were attending the Association of Home Office Underwriters annual meeting in San Diego.
(Related: Drug Testing In Life Underwriting)
About 21% of the underwriters said their companies now test for opioid use when applicants are asking for more than $1 million in coverage.
Those insurers and many others also look at the information about opioid use included in applicants' medical records.
About 63% of the underwriters said they believe they have seen an increase in the number of insurance applicants with a history of opioid use in the past year.
