Navigating a Pandemic: The Unique Role of the Medical Director.

The sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 presented a unique challenge for medical directors of life insurance companies. Company leadership required quick answers about many issues, but two in particular: 1) the magnitude of the pandemic's impact on the insured lives portfolio and 2) the underwriting of new applicants during a pandemic. This article will describe the experiences of a global team of reinsurance medical directors during a pandemic.

Mortality and Risk Stratification of HIV Infected Individuals.

For the first decade and a half after the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was first identified, the prognosis for most people infected with HIV was quite poor. Life insurance companies responded accordingly and insurance laboratories developed new means to test for the infection. However, it is now clear that people with HIV infection are living longer and that the majority of deaths occurring among those on treatment are now no longer due to AIDS-defining illnesses.