Hurricane Sandy May Cause Underwriting Delays

Some insurance companies were completely shut down for two full days due to Hurricane Sandy. Vital underwriting information may delayed over the next few weeks depending on when power is restored, data systems repaired, and servers get reconnected to remote stations.

Prudential Life reported that many of their underwriting and case management teams are in locations away from the storm areas, but that home office systems were knocked out, leaving those remote management teams unable to communicate with one another through centralized data reception and delivery. Prudential Life’s operations are similar to many insurance companies that rely heavily on Internet connectivity to leverage work loads and speed up data processing at stations away from the home office.

Portamedic, a major scheduler and processor of medical requirements for underwriting,  reported that “status updates and images” would likely fall behind normal delivery times. That means applications waiting for that lab sample  information required for full consideration by underwriters might not be processed as quickly as usual.

At Designs In Life, we are doing all possible to process any applications you have into us as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience and understanding.