Replies to post #417235 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

It's bullshit not JUST because Zero Hedge is zero credible.

Vaccines didn’t cause increase in deaths and life insurance payouts

https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-692312045885

By ALI SWENSON
January 10, 2022

CLAIM: An increase in death benefits paid out by life insurance providers in the third quarter of 2021 in the United States provides evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines, which became widely available in 2021, led to a spike in deaths.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The claim wrongly attempts to tie COVID-19 vaccines to a surge in deaths in the U.S. in 2021. Insurance industry leaders say the delta variant of the coronavirus and deferred medical care during the pandemic likely contributed to the increase in deaths.

Even as millions of people got vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021, reports of death after vaccination remain extremely rare, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

THE FACTS: As U.S. life insurance companies have reported a surge in deaths among their customers amid the coronavirus pandemic, online blogs and social media posts are falsely attributing the deaths to COVID-19 vaccines

“More preliminary evidence that the vaccines have led to a spike in deaths,” reads the headline of one blog post circulating widely online this month. The post goes on to claim that a rise in deaths in the third quarter of 2021, about six months after COVID-19 vaccines became widely available, “offers further evidence that something is very wrong with these vaccines.”

Other posts misrepresented comments made by Scott Davison, the CEO of the Indianapolis-based insurance company OneAmerica. Davison said in a press conference in late December that his firm saw a 40% rise in death rates among working-age individuals insured under its group life policy in the third quarter of 2021.

Some posts used that statistic to falsely imply vaccines were to blame, with one blog claiming the data showed a “record number of younger people in the workforce were dying after the roll-out of COVID-19 ‘vaccines.’”

These posts misrepresent comments by Davison and others in the insurance industry. More than half of the excess deaths in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2021 were caused by COVID-19, Davison said in a statement to The Associated Press, citing CDC data.

“CDC data indicates that 65% of 3Q excess deaths can be directly attributed to COVID,” Davison said. “Our own claims data is consistent with that as well. Based on the data and our analysis, we believe that a significant portion of the remaining excess deaths are driven by deferred medical care and individuals who recover from COVID but later die from the toll COVID has taken on their bodies.”

Catherine Theroux, a spokesperson for the insurance industry-funded research group LIMRA, said the firm doesn’t have concrete data through the end of 2021, but there’s no reason to suggest vaccines caused the excess deaths. She said deaths from the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus, which raged through the U.S. in the summer of 2021, likely contributed to the increase in deaths.

“Based on the CDC data, the delta variant did impact working age and younger individuals more than the original variant,” Theroux said.

The AP reported in December that CDC data indicated 2021 would be the nation’s deadliest year on record, with COVID-19 becoming the nation’s No. 3 cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. Experts also said U.S. drug overdose deaths, which surpassed 100,000 in a single year from May 2020 to April 2021, would probably affect 2021 death numbers.

As deaths increased across the U.S., reports of death after COVID-19 vaccination remained extremely rare. The CDC has identified nine deaths associated with rare blood clots caused by the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, out of more than 17 million doses of that vaccine given.

Health officials recommend the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines for most Americans, since they are highly effective against the virus and do not carry the rare blood clot risk associated with the Johnson & Johnson shot.

The AP has previously debunked claims that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 can affect life insurance death payments. Whether someone received a COVID-19 vaccine is not a factor in whether a life insurance company will pay their claim.

A spokesperson for the CDC did not respond to a request for further comment.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.

[fuagf]

dropdeadfred, Your suggestion more deaths occurred from vaccinations is no more than
anti-vaccination propaganda from you. You know our position on it, don't walk the line.

The unarguable position has been repeatedly impressed upon you as late as two days ago.

dropdeadfred, Pro-Trump counties continue to suffer far higher COVID death tolls
May 19, 20225:00 AM ET
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=169187644

That's the deal. Confine your anti-vax propaganda for other boards.

Life insurers adapt pandemic risk models after claims jump

By Carolyn Cohn and Noor Zainab Hussain
January 14, 20223:15 AM GMT+11 Last Updated 5 months ago


1/2 Medical staff treat a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patient in their isolation room on the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Western
Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, U.S., January 4, 2022. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

All links

Summary Companies

* Global COVID-19 life claims $5.5 bln for 9M 2021-broker

* Excess deaths among U.S. policyholders 12% in 2020-trade body

* Risk modellers take into account variants, vaccines, lockdowns

LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A coronavirus pandemic which lasts five years, another pandemic in a decade, and ever more transmissible variants are among the scenarios life insurers are predicting after COVID-19 claims jumped more than expected in 2021.

The global life insurance industry was hit with reported claims due to COVID-19 of $5.5 billion in the first nine months of 2021 versus $3.5 billion for the whole of 2020, according to insurance broker Howden in a report on Jan 4, while the industry had expected lower payouts due to the rollout of vaccines.
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"We definitely paid out more than I had anticipated at the beginning of last year," said Hannover Re (HNRGn.DE) board member Klaus Miller.

The increase in claims was largely down to the emergence of the Delta variant, twice as transmissible, and more likely to cause hospitalisation than the original coronavirus strain. read more .. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/delta-dominates-world-scientists-watch-worrisome-offspring-2021-11-15/

Claims rose most in the United States, India and South Africa due to the more lethal variants and a rise in fatalities or illness among younger and unvaccinated groups.

Dutch insurer Aegon , which does two-thirds of its business in the United States, said its claims in the Americas in the third quarter were $111 million, up from $31 million a year earlier. read more

U.S. insurers MetLife (MET.N) and Prudential Financial (PRU.N) also said life insurance claims rose. South Africa's Old Mutual (OMUJ.J) used up more of its pandemic provisions to pay claims and reinsurer Munich Re raised its 2021 estimate of COVID-19 life and health claims to 600 million euros from 400 million. read more

The long-term nature of life insurance products – often lasting 20 years or more – means premiums are not yet capturing the risk that deaths or long-term illness from COVID-19 will likely remain higher than previously estimated. Competition in the industry is also keeping a lid on premiums.

Actuaries say rising claims will be eating into the capital which insurers set aside to ensure solvency.

In the initial "shock" period of the pandemic in 2020, the insured U.S. population suffered 12% more deaths than average, according to research from life insurance trade association LIMRA shared with Reuters.

"For the insurance industry, that's not huge because we have reserves," said Marianne Purushotham, LIMRA's chief actuary.

"We're always trying to compare the new variant to the initial shock," she said.

The impact for insurers in 2020 was more muted because deaths were mainly among older people who typically do not take out life insurance.

CRYSTAL BALL-GAZING

As the pandemic continues to surprise with the Omicron variant now becoming dominant, insurers, reinsurers and specialist risk modelling firms are looking to the future.

"We take into account the possibilities of more transmissible and less transmissible (variants)," Narges Dorratoltaj, scientist at modelling firm AIR said. "We cannot say specifically which path we are going to follow but we are trying to come up with the possible ranges to at least narrow down the possible outcomes."

AIR is factoring in periodic lockdowns around the world and is also considering factoring in more uncertainty over whether governments will continue to impose restrictions to keep transmission rates low, and over individuals' willingness to obey them, Narges said.

Risk modelling firm RMS said its updated COVID-19 projection model allowed for variants, such as Omicron, which show elements of vaccine escape, as well as for variants which might evade vaccines.

Reinsurer Swiss Re (SRENH.S) said its pandemic model takes more than 20,000 different scenarios into account. It has been updating its risk model regularly with the latest data on testing, vaccination, infection, hospitalisation and fatality rates.

HOW LONG, WHAT'S NEXT?

With the emergence of the even more transmissible Omicron, COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Pfizer (PFE.N) has said it does not expect the pandemic to subside to an endemic state globally until 2024. read more

AIR's model anticipates that the pandemic, caused by a virus first identified in China in December 2019, could last five years.

Excess deaths could continue as the virus becomes endemic, similar to influenza which causes many deaths each year despite vaccines.

"We would expect to see some medium-term (impact on claims) of five to 10 years," LIMRA’s Purushotham said.

More deaths or long-term illnesses will require insurers to set aside more reserves to pay claims, and may force them to raise premiums.

Insurance risk experts also say the opportunities for transmission between humans and animals, high levels of global travel, increased urbanisation and climate change impacts such as deforestation and disease-carrying mosquitoes mean pandemics could become more frequent.

"A new coronavirus outbreak is indeed likely in the near future -- within the next 10 years," said Brice Jabo, principal modeller, life risks, at RMS, referring to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreaks in the last two decades as early warnings.

The potential for any future corovanirus outbreak to again become a pandemic would depend on its transmissibility and the strength of measures to fight it, Jabo said.

Bruno Latourrette, chief knowledge officer of reinsurer SCOR Global Life (SCOR.PA), said he did not expect the next pandemic to be as devastating as COVID-19.

"COVID is...the perfect storm with pre-symptomatic contagiousness, a lethality that is not too high to lead to super-strong zero tolerance measures, a waning of immunity and high transmissibility".

Editing by Elaine Hardcastle

https://www.reuters.com/business/life-insurers-adapt-pandemic-risk-models-after-claims-jump-2022-01-13/

[sortagreen]

Figures don't lie, but liars do figure.

STFU, asshole.

Same guy:

Davison says OneAmerica expects to pay out more than $100 million in short- and long-term disability claims due to the pandemic.

“Whether it’s long COVID or whether it’s because people haven’t been able to get the health care they need because the hospitals are overrun, we’re seeing those claims start to tick up as well,” he said.

Because of this, insurance companies are beginning to add premium increases on employers in counties with low vaccination rates to cover the benefit payouts.