Globe Life, a life insurer that focuses on covering middle-income Americans, believes that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may still be affecting U.S. mortality.
Thomas Kalmbach, the company's chief financial officer, touched on mortality trends briefly last week, during a conference call the company held with securities analysts to go over earnings for the second quarter.
An analyst asked Globe Life executives whether mortality has returned to the levels that were typical before 2020, when the COVID pandemic began.
"I think the trends are good," Kalmbach said. He emphasized that mortality has been within the range Globe Life assumed when it set its life insurance prices.
"But we're not quite there yet," Kalmbach said.
What it means: Most people have stopped wearing masks. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ended most of its COVID-19 tracking reports.
But the virus is still killing more than 350 U.S. residents every week, and along with other infectious diseases, such as influenza, it continues to cast a shadow over any efforts by financial professionals to help clients buy life insurance, use annuities in income planning or make other arrangements tied to life expectancy.
Q2 earnings: Globe Life held the call to go over results for the second quarter with the analysts.
The second quarter ended June 30.
Globe Life is reporting $258 million in net income for the quarter on $1.4 billion in revenue, up from $215 million in net income on $1.3 billion for the second quarter of 2023.
The McKinney, Texas-based company sells life and health insurance. The life insurance businesses increased their underwriting margin, or the difference between life insurance premiums and death benefit payments, to 8% between the second quarter of 2023 and the latest quarter, to $815 million.
Death rates: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, in early 2020, Globe Life has been one of the life insurers that's been quickest to give analysts candid assessments of U.S. mortality.
Mortality is much lower than it was when pandemic-related mortality was peaking, and mortality trends are now helping, not, hurting, Globe Life's earnings, Kalmbach said.
"Mortality has been fairly consistent over the last few quarters, which has been good," he said.
He sees the mortality rate from accidents and other nonmedical causes improving.
