
(Image source: MyLifeScore360 website.)
Whatever can be said fairly against the insurance industry, one of the reasons its reputation suffers is that consumers simply don’t understand the product. Thus, while moving to customer-centricity is important from the standpoint of service, insurers shouldn’t underestimate how important transparency is to winning over customers. MassMutual (Springfield, Mass.) is addressing that perennial shortcoming through its LifeScore Labs’ introduction of a consumer-facing risk scoring tool called MyLifeScore360, which is an abbreviated consumer-focused version of the LifeScore360 product available to life insurers.
MassMutual describes MyLifeScore360 as a free online risk scoring tool that provides insights to how an insurance carrier may measure an individual’s risk, by answering 10 simple questions on such characteristics as age, height, weight and smoking-status, among others. Based on their answers, consumers will be provided with a score from 1-100 (with 100 being the best), as well as a report on the factors that contributed to the score, which will enable them to better understand and interpret how their risk profile may impact their life insurance risk. The user’s data, score and report are anonymous and are not shared with other life insurance companies or third parties. Consumers are given have the option to explore products aligned to their needs.
“Purchasing a life insurance policy can be one of the most important decisions a person can make,” comments Sears Merritt, Head of LifeScore Labs and MassMutual’s Head of Data Science & Analytics. “As an industry, we can make underwriting more understandable for everyone if both consumers and insurers can use a standard risk score when making buying and underwriting decisions.”
LifeScore360, which launched in 2018, is a secure, cloud-based mortality risk model that enables life insurers to upload 48 de-identified data points to receive a LifeScore360 score. The score is designed to help insurers more transparently and accurately assess mortality risk. MyLifeScore360 also furthers LifeScore Labs’ vision for its scoring system to become an industry standard, enabling both consumers and businesses to evaluate risk through a single metric, according to MassMutual. LifeScore Labs anticipates releasing disability income and accelerated mortality risk models in 2019.
Industry Standard Aspiration
MassMutual describes LifeScore360, which launched in 2018, as a secure, cloud-based mortality risk model that enables life insurers to upload 48 de-identified data points to receive a LifeScore360 score. The score is designed to help insurers more transparently and accurately assess mortality risk. MyLifeScore360 also furthers LifeScore Labs’ vision for its scoring system to become an industry standard, enabling both consumers and businesses to evaluate risk through a single metric. LifeScore Labs reports that it expects to release disability income and accelerated mortality risk models during 2019.
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