1970s - Actuarial - Snippets

  • The consumerists are having a fine time these days with the life insurance industry about which it seems there is nothing favorable to be said.
  • A distinguished member of the Senate* is agitating for a “truth in life insurance” law and this provoked the following comment from one newspaper:
    • “Probably what most insurance policies could use is a terse and lucid summary of precise coverage and options, enabling the purchaser to understand the benefits and recognize the limitations. . . .
    • (Senator) Hart* speaks of a possible ‘truth in life insurance’ law.
      • Our hunch is that the problem isn’t so much truth as clarity.”
    • Another doughty** champion*** of the consumer is reported to have said: “ . . . . it should surprise no one that the standard family auto policy is substantially less readable than Einstein’s basic work on relativity.”
      • The speaker*** is a lawyer and an insurance commissioner and he should be well aware that it is the lawyers and the insurance commissioners who have made the insurance policies what they are today.....
    • *Senator Philip Hart (D-MI)
    • **doughty = brave and persistent
    • *** Herb Denenberg, Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner

1973 - SOA - The Actuary - Editorial by ACW (Andrew C. Webster), p2 - 8p

  • Little time is spent giving the novice any insight into the premises of the field.
    • Textbooks and even scientific papers are prepared according to the advice attributed to Louis Pasteur: "Make it seem inevitable."
  • This may explain why scientists, actuaries included, find it more difficult to explain their work or relate it to other fields than to apply it to a problem. (p387)

1974 - SOA - The Future of the Actuarial Profession as Viewed in A.D. 1974, by John M. Bragg, Society of Actuaries - 74p

  • When it comes to technical language and technical calculations which can be used to communicate with other actuaries, state insurance department personnel, or lawyers, an actuary is indeed well trained.
  • However, when it comes to talking to a basically uninformed public, a very well intentioned and technical document made up by an actuary might tend to be more confusing to the public at large than that which was made up by an informed and honest member of the company’s agency management. (p5)

--  Frederick A. Randall

1974 03 - SOA - The Actuary - Society of Actuaries - 6p

  • There is bound to be a controversial element in anything that enlightens the public to these differences and gives them a more intelligent basis for choice than they have at the present time.

--  Ernest J. Moorhead (EJM)

1977 - SOA - Debate "Resolved, The Life Insurance Business, as Transacted Today, is in it's Terminal Stages, Society of Actuaries - 14p

  • Because of the high level of flexibility provided in a "Universal Life" style Adjustable Life product...

--  David R. Carpenter

1979 - SOA - Future Trends and Current Developments in Individual Life Products (rsa79v5n44), Society of Actuaries - 24p 

  • Universal Life might well be a more appropriate product than Adjustable Life for the very sophisticated, very high premium, as you mentioned, product or sale.
    • However, I think that there is a major segment out there where Universal Life Just would not fit.
  • Universal Life seems to be taking a giant step forward.
    • Adjustable Life may be a reasonable middle ground which our agents and our potential policyholders can understand a little bit better than the Universal Life concept at the present time.

--  Spencer Koppel

1979 - SOA - Future Trends and Current Developments in Individual Life Products (rsa79v5n44), Society of Actuaries - 24p