Advisors Blog

Newly Enhanced Protection Term and Vitality Term Options,

Effective August 25, 2023

John Hancock's newly enhanced Protection Term and Vitality Term options adds value and opportunity to your clients. Take a look at the key updates:

• Enriched conversion options — giving clients more time to convert to any of the options offered in the suite of leading permanent solutions.
• Removed the signed illustration requirement for Vitality Term.
• Simplified Vitality Term experience — the premium amount is determined by the achieved Vitality status. The premium for each Vitality status is guaranteed and provided in the Contract, giving your clients added predictability and control.
• Fast and easy purchase process — streamlined digital experience makes submitting business with John Hancock simple and convenient.

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The Lincoln Leader:

• Lincoln WealthAccelerate IUL Now Available in Massachusetts
• Coming Soon - Indexed Account Rate Changes
• Updated Foreign National Underwriting Guidelines
• Online Beneficiary Changes
• New Unified Life Application in MA (reprint)
• Important Information Regarding New York Situs
• Enhancements to MoneyGuard Auto Follow-Up Emails (reprint)
• New Business Form Updates
• Submitting an In-Good-Order Electronic Funds Transfer Form 
• Automated Underwriting Expansion to eApp

Updated: Lincoln Foreign National Underwriting Guidelines,

Effective August 14, 2023

Beginning August 14, 2023, Lincoln’s Underwriting team is offering new opportunities within the foreign national market. The following updates will make it easier to do business with Lincoln and enable coverage for a broader set of your foreign national clients.

• Allowing a Limited Power of Attorney to sign Good Health Statement.
• Expand travel abroad criteria for U.S. Citizens or Green Card holders.
• Routine inspection reports are no longer required.

Indexed Account Rate Changes, Effective September 15, 2023

Effective September15, 2023, Lincoln will be making changes to caps, participation rates, and spreads on certain indexed accounts, which may reduce future policy performance. The changes apply only to newly created indexed account segments for a select group of previously sold life insurance products in Lincoln’s Indexed UL product suites.

2023 Life Insurance Year-End Guidelines

Click below for important key dates and deadlines for processing 2023 year-end business.

Limited-Time Offer: Term Conversion and Platinum Pass Program, Effective August 9, 2023 - December 31, 2023

Just in time for Life Insurance Awareness Month and to help close cases quickly during the second half of 2023, MassMutual has two special limited-time offers that provide new reasons to contact clients and discuss their life insurance needs.

Term Conversion enhancements:

• MassMutual will allow a 25% increase in face amount on conversions of the Vantage Term and MassMutual Convertible Term product series to new or existing MassMutual whole life insurance policies, with no additional underwriting requirements.
• $1 Million cap per insured on the coverage increase and no age limits.

Platinum Pass Term Program expansion:

• The Platinum Pass Term Program allows you to increase your client's coverage by matching up to their existing coverage from $100,000 to $3 million, without any new medical tests or paramedical exams. This program is exclusively for clients who purchased insurance from MassMutual in the past 3 years and were fully underwritten using a full blood/urine profile.

From August 9, 2023 - December 31, 2023:

• The Platinum Pass Term Program will expand to include the approved outside carriers included in The Platinum Pass Perm Program.
• MassMutual term policies issued through the Platinum Pass Term program can be used to replace a term policy from an outside carrier, except in New York.

CareMatters II Price Improvement, Effective August 21, 2023

Beginning August 21, 2023, Nationwide® is implementing a price improvement across all scenarios for the current CareMatters® II product, effective in the states of Connecticut (CT), Florida (FL), North Dakota (ND), South Carolina (SC), South Dakota (SD) and the District of Columbia (DC). 

There will be a price decrease for all scenarios, which varies by the characteristics of the case.

In addition, to make CareMatters II more accessible to more clients, Nationwide is lowering the current minimum LTC benefit from $2,500 a month to $1,500 a month. South Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin require higher minimums.

Reminder: Part B Underwriting Requirements

Effective June 5, 2023, Principal discontinued paper part B for life and individual disability insurance applications (IDI). As a result of this change, full paramed exams are no longer required for any life applicant. The customer completed reflexive Part B takes the place of the exam.

You should not order a full paramed. Doing so will only cause duplication and more work for your client. Please refer to the Customer Completed Part B Routine Requirements chart to assure you are ordering the correct requirements for the proposed insured’s face amount and age.

Reminder: Accelerated Underwriting Eligibility

On part A of Principal's life insurance application, under the section titled Proposed Insured(s) Insurance History, question 4 asks the below: 

“In the past 12 months have you had blood drawn or urinalysis completed for an insurance carrier?” 

Please be sure you and/or your client answer this question correctly. Answering “yes” will disqualify your client from Accelerated Underwriting. Routine requirements for age/face amount will then be posted when the application is coded.

New Pricing on VUL Protector, and Updates to BenefitAccess Rider (BAR) in New York, Effective August 21, 2023

VUL Protector is now even more competitive, with new pricing for no-lapse guarantee solves. Most scenarios will improve, however, some designs will see an increase.

Here's what you can expect on average for $1M death benefit and NLG through age 120 (non-NY) and NLG through age 90 in NY: