July 2025

Manulife has focused on evolving underwriting practices for years. We’ve brought you industry-leading changes such as underwriting HIV positive applicants, reduced evidence for your healthiest clients, and AI tools to speed up underwriting decisions. This fall, we’re bringing you another industry-first – a significantly enhanced electronic application designed to improve the buying experience for your customers.

We’re enhancing our electronic application to improve overall functionality and update the medical section questions. There’ll be fewer questions, and the questions set will be reflexive based on age and face amount applied for, making this application attractive for your mass market customers. For cases requiring a paramedical exam, you’ll continue to choose whether to complete the medical section of the application.

Underwriting applications haven’t changed much over the years. We conducted a detailed study that confirmed some of our questions were out of date. Along with changing consumer preferences, this prompted us to create reflexive questions that mimic a first doctor's visit. These questions gather the necessary information quickly to speed up decision-making. 

We’ll no longer ask the “body system” questions. We will continue to ask customers about:

• common impairments, such as diabetes, circulatory disorders, and cancer;
• what conditions they have, and what medications, diet or treatments they are using;
• pending tests, investigations and the usual catch all questions.

We’ll provide a medication list and pick lists throughout the application, for ease of use.

Our modernized application will feature common questionnaires as drop-down options for relevant questions such as avocations, aviation and travel.

Manulife has a unique advantage with over 20 years of application data, allowing us to thoroughly test new underwriting approaches. We carefully compared our old and new sets of questions in a protective value study, ensuring there was no change in underwriting decisions.

We introduced these new questions in our tele-interview application in October 2023. Currently, 50% of our electronic applications involve a tele-interview. Tens of thousands of customers have gone through this process, and our decision-making remains consistent with the electronic applications you're familiar with. Plus, the average tele-interview now takes 10 minutes less.

Our reinsurance partners have reviewed and supported our new approach, noting that it speeds up the process for customers while maintaining the same level of disclosure. 

You and your customers will benefit from a simpler, straight-forward electronic application with less scrolling. You’ll also complete the application in less time, while providing the underwriter with what they need to assess the risk and ask fewer clarification questions. 

You may also begin to enjoy faster approvals, similar to our tele-interview process. This enhanced application will launch with an updated MAUDE (Manulife Automated Underwriting Decision Engine) designed to approve our healthiest clients on submission of the application. If the case is approved, you’ll receive a notification via a New Business Notification. On screen instant approval will follow in the future. 

Manulife’s underwriting team works closely with our Advanced Analytics, Risk, Pricing and Experience team to constantly refine the buying process. This is one more reason to partner with Manulife. 

We’ll provide you with more details and resources closer to the fall launch date!

For more underwriting tips and insight follow Karen Cutler on LinkedIn. Karen is our VP, Head of Underwriting and Claims, Chief Underwriter Individual Insurance.