RGA developed an automated underwriting solution called the Simplified Issue Expansion Project (SEP) to help insurers in South Korea expand their simplified issue life and health insurance offerings. The SEP uses data-driven underwriting rules to approve customers with more than 16,000 minor pre-existing medical conditions. It also improves efficiency by automating the underwriting process. Initial results show the SEP has helped insurers generate additional revenue, accept more customers with existing health issues, and reduce manpower costs.

1. TDI Insurer Innovation
Award 2023 – APAC
Simplified Issue Expansion Project
Data-driven automated underwriting
solution in South Korea
Reinsurance Group of America, Inc. (RGA)

2. The Background
• Simplified issue (SI) insurance allows customers to apply for life and health
insurance coverage by simply answering three yes or no questions about their
health, with a much faster approval process than full underwriting.
• SI has proven to be popular with consumers, and South Korea has witnessed
healthy growth in sales of SI products since their introduction in 2012.
• Today, close to 60%1 of the market remains fully underwritten, so there is room for
more SI growth. To stay ahead and build on momentum, insurers need to
continue to innovate their SI offerings, in particular the underwriting and
customer onboarding processes that are key to establishing a winning SI
business and creating more value through improved efficiency, better
customer experience, and sound risk management.
• Through such innovation, the insurance industry also should be able to be more
inclusive by expanding coverage to more social demographics, including
individuals with existing medical conditions who otherwise may not be able to
obtain insurance easily.
Expanding simplified issue life and health insurance
products in South Korea for the uninsured
Simplified Issue Expansion Project: Data-Driven Automated Underwriting Solution in South Korea
Insert a graph that
shows demographics
with impaired
conditions that could
benefit from this
innovation. Even better
is a graph that shows
impaired without
insurance.
28% of the population is
uninsured2
34% of those are aged 60+ 3
87% of individuals aged 60+ are
living with health impairments
(impaired lives) 4
Notes: 1Estimation is based on RGA’s internal market research (2021)
2,3,4 Estimation is based on national statistics from KOSTATS,
combined with RGA’s experienced data analysis

3. The Challenge
Increase and speed up underwriting approvals
while maintaining sound risk management
Simplified Issue Expansion Project: Data-Driven Automated Underwriting Solution in South Korea
Insurers’ pain points…
× Lack of robust risk management
× No clinical evidence to support
the list of minor diseases being
accepted
× Low efficiency due to manual
work
However, this list contains more
than 500 types of International
Classification of Disease-based
rules (ICD) without supporting
clinical evidence or sound risk
assessment
Market research shows that
among the three underwriting
questions, many cases are
declined from question #2
To manually
accept more cases, insurers come
up with a list of acceptable
minor diseases
Q1. XXX
Q2. Have you been
hospitalized/undergone
surgeries in the past two
years?
Q3. XXX

4. Simplified Issue Expansion Project: Data-Driven Automated Underwriting Solution in South Korea
THE SOLUTION:
RGA’s Simplified Issue Expansion Project (SEP)

5. First-in-market data-driven
underwriting rules
to expand the acceptance of 16,000+ ICD code-based
minor pre-existing medical conditions validated
through rigorous data analysis of claims data
Robust and customized risk
assessment
based on six data variables applied to ensure the
underwriting rules are calibrated to the risk appetite of the
insurer and actuarial pricing of the product
Secure and automated rules
embedded in the insurer application process in the form of
API to reduce risk and cost of manual underwriting and to
enhance efficiency
Analytical and reporting
capabilities
to sharpen future risk assessment and improve offerings
Data-driven automated underwriting for SI products
The Solution
Simplified Issue Expansion Project: Data-Driven Automated Underwriting Solution in South Korea
To address the challenges faced by many insurers in expanding their SI business, RGA’s SEP includes the
following unique features:

6. The Solution
Using data-driven underwriting rules to expand
minor disease acceptance
Simplified Issue Expansion Project: Data-Driven Automated Underwriting Solution in South Korea
A win-win for insurers
and consumers…
Increase insurers’ product sales
Minor disease acceptance expanded
Strengthen loss ratio management
Evidence-based, data-driven rules
Improve operational efficiency
Automated electronic case selection
Narrow protection gap
More coverage for consumers with
existing minor diseases
Data-driven rules based on
six data variables:
DECLINE
ACCEPT
Automatic
case selection
SEP
Automated
Underwriting
Solutions
SI cases: Customers answer “yes” to underwriting Q2
Q1: xxx
Q2: History of hospitalization and/or surgery in the past two years?
Q3: xxx
• ICD code
• Age
• Hospitalization record
• Operation
• Time since treatment
• Number of claims
SEP increases
number of
minor diseases
accepted by 3
to 10 times1
1
Subject to insurers’ existing list of minor diseases

7. Success to date
Helping clients succeed
4.8B
KRW of revenue
generated for RGA
5
clients
onboarded Up to
200M
KRW manpower cost
saved per company3
Note: 1,2
Subject to insurers’ existing list of minor diseases.
3
Estimated to save one to two underwriters’ worth of work with average cost per underwriter
estimated at 100,000,000 KRW per year.
3-10times
additional risk-verified
minor diseases
accepted1
20%
additional customers
with existing minor
diseases accepted2
Simplified Issue Expansion Project: Data-Driven Automated Underwriting Solution in South Korea

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Simplified Issue Expansion Project: Data-Driven Automated Underwriting Solution in South Korea