UnderwriteMe has enhanced the question set on its Protection Platform to ensure the use of weight loss treatment is captured accurately.
After much collaboration with their insurer partners, the enhancement will allow insurers to apply decisions in line with their underwriting risk appetite.
The additional questions will focus on the type of weight loss treatment that has been prescribed by a medical professional, how long it has been used for and what the impact has been.
BUY-NOW DECISIONS
They will help ensure the capturing of all the necessary information for insurers to make informed and accurate decisions for individuals seeking cover, and, where possible, offer buy-now decisions. Seven insurers are currently offering buy-now decisions subject to the answers provided.
The update comes after a rise in usage of weight loss treatment including Ozempic and Mounjaro, with 2.5 million in the UK now estimated to be using them for weight loss purposes.
Amid the increased consumer usage, the Protection Platform has seen 739 applicants disclose taking medical treatment to lose weight.
FIRST IN THE MARKET
Nilesh Patel, chief revenue and customer officer at UnderwriteMe, said: “Protection insurance is often highly dependent upon medical underwriting, and after speaking to our insurer partners we collectively felt it was the right time to enhance the questions on the Protection Platform so that our insurer partners can continue to innovate and evolve their underwriting philosophies in this area on our Platform.
“Underwriting efficiency and accuracy are key for advisers and the Protection Platform continues to offer highly competitive STP (straight through processing) rates year-on-year. We are the first in the market with these underwriting changes, but we expect others to follow.”
CHANGING TIMES
Chris Reed, executive marketing director at Protect Line, added: “Insurance has a reputation for being slow to change, especially around underwriting.
“The world our customers live in is moving much faster – from the rapid rise of weight loss treatments to the way Gen Z think about health and lifestyle – and our questions haven’t always kept pace.
“UnderwriteMe’s enhancements are a clear sign that this is changing. By asking smarter, more nuanced questions about clinically supervised weight loss, they’re helping distributors like us secure fair, timely outcomes for customers who are simply trying to take control of their health.
“It’s also a great example of Consumer Duty in action. UnderwriteMe, their insurers and reinsurers have clearly worked hard behind the scenes to make this possible, and it shows that a once sleepy industry is now very much awake.”
