Two term life insurance issuers are emphasizing that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a terrible effect on workers with term life insurance.
J. Scott Davison, the CEO of OneAmerica, said last week at an online press conference organized by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Hospital Association that the death rate of people ages 18 through 64 is now 40% higher than normal, and well above what the life insurer had believed to be the 1-in-200-year-event level.
"We're seeing right now the highest death rates we have ever seen in the history of this business," Davison said.
Death rates climbed in the third quarter of 2021 and have stayed high, and group disability insurance claim rates are also up, Davison said.
Other term life issuers appear to be seeing similar increases in life insurance claims for working-age people, he added.
Davison noted that about 84% of OneAmerica's own workers are vaccinated.
The vaccinated workers "want no part in working in an open office environment with unvaccinated people," Davison said.
OneAmerica has added a vaccine mandate for its own workers because of concerns that it would be unable to attract and keep employees if it did not have one, Davison added.
OneAmerica is based in Indianapolis.
The press conference that featured Davison was organized to promote vaccination efforts in Indiana. Kevin Brinegar, the Indiana chamber president, said in introductory remarks that the chamber wanted to emphasize the severity of the impact of the current COVID-19 spike on Indiana's hospitals and employers.
The Center Square, an arm of the Franklin News Foundation, broke the story about Davison's remarks. The center says it aims to reach "an audience that seeks balanced state-focused view with a taxpayer's sensibility." John Tillman, the chairman of the foundation, won an award from the State Policy Network for efforts to advance the free market philosophy.
Another foundation board member, Bradley Walton, president of Signature Advisors Group. He holds the Chartered Life Underwriter professional designation and has served on the AALU Business and Estate Planning Committee. AALU is now part of Finseca.
Primerica's Numbers
In separate news, Primerica announced Tuesday, in a public summary of projected production results it shared at a sales meeting, that it estimates that it sold $109 billion in new term life insurance in 2021 and increased the total of term life in force to more than $900 billion.
