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Copyright © 2011 Association of Home Office Underwriters

Insurance underwriters nationwide will gather at The 10th Annual Conference of the AHOU May 1-4, 2011, to gain insights about what is affecting the insurance industry as well as knowledge about underwriting trends.  In the midst of the social events hosted by AHOU as well as ExamOne, the workshops and seminars stand to aid the professional development of underwriters in many respects.

As society changes, the nature of underwriting changes.  Sessions at the AHOU meeting take advances in health care, an aging population, insurance operations, and a more globalized society into account.  Also, the emergence of stranger owned life insurance (STOLI) has changed some of the dynamics of insurance underwriting, in which the owner of an insurance policy has a lack of an insurable interest in the person covered by the insurance and is speculating on that person’s mortality.  Several of the sessions examine diabetes ratings, heart function, obesity, Alzheimer’s research and dementia, risk assessment and underwriting for the elderly.

ExamOne’s own Betsy Sears, executive vice president, will give an interactive presentation titled “Seeing Through the Smoke: Common Myths of the Laboratory.”  The presentation will use real-life calls from underwriters, agents and applicants to dispel myths associated with lab testing, such as whether second-hand smoke shows up in non-smokers results or whether Novocain causes a false positive for cocaine.

We look forward to a productive conference during the day and hope the conference has AHOU members coming back with new knowledge to apply in their underwriting departments.