Chaos Closing Out 2019

In the November 2018 issue of Broker World, I predicted chaos for the end of 2019.

Could we see a massive logjam for product approvals? Could we start off the era of PBR compliance with a very limited set of products? Could an extension be filed to alleviate the increased load the state insurance departments will receive?

I am upset that it now seems that I was correct. How could I see this coming, but a trillion-dollar industry did not? Or did they see it, and just did not care? Any way, it is looking to be worse than I expected. Just over two months out and there are only two carriers that we work with on a regular basis that have their full line-up of products compliant in and out of New York. And there is no discussion of an extension whatsoever.

For those unaware, there are new reserve requirements that all Life Insurance products must adhere to come January 1st, 2020. It is forcing all carriers to rework their old products or start from scratch with new products.

While fascinating from an analytical point of view, this is wildly disturbing.

As you can see in our weekly Newsletter – The “Algren Life Line” – we are doing our best to keep tabs on the current landscape. When asking carriers for the latest on their products, the answer I receive fall into three camps:

1) We have product(s) approved but haven’t started selling them yet
2) We are working on getting product(s) approved
3) We are discontinuing product(s)

I am now at the point where I do not feel comfortable suggesting any product that is not currently PBR compliant. The consequences of receiving an application today that cannot get placed before Christmas are too high to chance it.

Please make sure you are taking that into account when speaking with your clients.

We will keep you apprised.