Insurance Newsletter Issue 7
Starting 2024 On the Right Foot
In Sikka's inaugural 2024 issue, we discuss the rising rates of GLP-1 use in Americans, the state of life insurance applications in 2023, Fitch's credit outlook for P/C and life insurance, and the downfall of the "Annuity King".
Weight-Loss Drugs: Who, and What, Are They Good For? – Powerful weight-loss medicines like Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO). Wegovy leapt into public view in 2023, from social media to doctors' offices and cocktail parties, offering a new way to address record obesity rates. But extraordinary demand, and high prices, for these drugs will keep them out of reach in the coming year for many patients who are likely to benefit. The new drugs are known as GLP-1 agonists, which mimic the activity of a hormone that slows digestion and helps people feel full for longer.
Released January 2nd 2024:
Click Here
Life Insurance Applications up 3% in 2023; First Rise in Nearly Three Years – Application activity for U.S. life insurance grew at a near 3% rate in 2023 compared to the previous year showing the first uptick in almost four years, according to the MIB Group, a member-owned company that provides underwriting services to life and health insurance companies. The 2023 year-to-year comparisons are impacted by the decline in 2022 applications. MIB reported that total activity last year was down 2.8% compared to 2021, flat compared to 2020, but up 4.4% compared to 2019.
Released January 11th, 2024:
Click Here
‘Annuity King’ Faces Sentencing in Fraud Case – Phillip Roy Wasserman, a Sarasota, Florida, annuity producer who once dubbed himself the “annuity king,” faces a Jan. 31 sentencing hearing on nine federal felony counts related to the failure of FastLife, a web-based life, health and annuity market firm he started in 2016. Wasserman has argued that FastLife failed because it had the same kinds of problems that many other unsuccessful startups have and that his intentions were pure.
Released January 17th 2024:
Click Here
Fitch P/C Credit Outlook Neutral, Life Insurance Outlook Improving for 2024 – Fitch Ratings’ analysts came up with a largely “meh” prediction when it comes to its overall 2024 credit outlook for property/casualty insurance. However, the ratings agency showed some optimism in its 2024 credit outlook for personal auto and life insurance. In a recent webinar, Fitch reported its credit outlook for the P/C sector as neutral for 2024. Separate outlooks on personal lines and commercial lines also are neutral.
Released January 15th, 2024:
Click Here
Sikka Insights is excited to announce that our world-class data science team has developed and launched a new indicator for GLP-1 as it relates to weight loss. Contact lewis.goldman@sikka.ai to learn how your underwriting teams can leverage GLP-1 medications today.
Do you have some news you’d like to share with the industry? Fill out this form to have your announcement featured in the next edition of Sikka’s life underwriting newsletter.