The insurance industry has been processing claims faster than ever.
They are currently seeing the highest death rate in the history of the business, especially people of working age.
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How do we know the rates are increasing?
For OneAmerica, an insurance company in Indiana, this is a record high of death rates. The current rates are the highest in the history of the company. Click here to read more.
COVID-19 deaths in Indiana alone have reached about 19,000. Nationally, the number is 824,000.
Working age is considered 18 to 64 years old. Death rates among this group are up 40% in the third and fourth quarter of 2021. This is in comparison to pre-pandemic levels.
Scott Davison is the CEO of OneAmerica said that a “200-year old catastrophe would be a 10% increase over pre-pandemic levels…so, 40% is just unheard of.”
The data shows that COVID-19 deaths are “greatly understated among working age Americans.”
Davison expects that OneAmerica will payout more than $100 million in disability claims related to the pandemic.
He said that the claims vary from long COVID to other healthcare services that were unavailable during the pandemic when hospitals were overrun.
This has lead insurance companies to add a premium increase on employers. The increase impacts employers in counties with low vaccination rates. This is in order to cover the benefit payouts.
For OneAmerica, almost all employees have been working from home since the start of the pandemic. However, they do still use a hybrid schedule because it is more effective for the company.
