U.S. life insurers received more requests for individual coverage in January than they did in January 2009, and activity for older applicants was much stronger.
The MIB Group Inc., Braintree, Mass., has published data supporting that finding in an analysis of North American life insurers' use of MIB databases to check individually underwritten life applications.
Overall U.S. activity volume increased 1.2%.
Activity volume fell 2.5% for applicants ages 0 to 44, but activity for applicants ages 45 to 59 increased 2.5%, and activity for applicants ages 60 and older rose about 15%.
MIB also has been computing a Canadian life index activity, but it now has suspended the index series for that market.
"Increasing volatility and ongoing consolidation in that market has created the need to re-examine the method of calculating the Canadian Life Index," MIB says.
