Merritt Personal Lines Manual: Health Underwriting

Underwriting is the process of selection, classification and rating of risks. The underwriter is that person working in the home office of the insurance company who receives, reviews and evaluates all relevant information in order to accept or reject a risk.

The underwriter's sources of information include:

• the agent, also known as a field underwriter;
• the application including the agent's statement;
• inspection reports;
• medical information and attending physician's statements; and
• other information, such as occupational or avocational questionnaires.

The agent is usually the only person who actually sees the risk to be insured. It's the agent's job to deal with subjective or personal issues and to provide clear and accurate information regarding the applicant.

In this process, one of the agent's important responsibilities is the completion of the insurance application. The application is the principal tool of the underwriter. It contains the important information about the risk, which usually includes:

• the age, sex and occupation of the applicant;
• past medical history and current physical condition;
• moral habits;
• information regarding other insurance owned;
• family history information; and
• unusual hobbies or avocations