Two nonprofit groups have warned state insurance regulators that market shifts may reshape the supply of life insurance, health insurance and annuity product experience data.
Cindy MacDonald, a senior director at the Society of Actuaries talked about the shifts earlier this month in Seattle, during a meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Health Actuarial Task Force.
LIMRA and the SOA Research Institute recently joined to start an Experience Studies Pro program. The program will conduct experience studies, or efforts to find out how insurance products really work.
Historically, the SOA used a variety of approaches when deciding whether to do experience studies. Managers of the new program will conduct feasibility surveys before starting studies, according to the draft meeting minutes and a slide deck included in a Health Actuarial Task Force meeting packet.
What It Means
Some of the same forces reshaping financial services companies, industry organizations and life and annuity product menus may also affect the sources of information used to develop and manage the products.
The New Study Strategy
MacDonald said an experience study feasibility survey will look both at sources of data for a study and sources of funding.
The program managers will move forward with a study if enough insurers seem interested in providing data and buying the study results.
