Supporting Underwriting, Claims Decisions With the Science of Behavioral Economics

May 13, 2020 by Jason Rodriguez and Katey Walker

Successful insurance product administration requires consistent, accurate decisions from the evaluation of submissions at underwriting to the adjudication of claims. Effective decision operations are particularly important for commercial lines carriers where underwriting teams collectively steer the company into segments of profitability and prosperity or into real trouble.Executive SummaryConsultants from the insurance practice of Willis Towers Watson describe the ways in which cognitive biases overlap with the decisions typically made by insurance professionals and suggest interventions to minimize the impact of these biases.

Executive Summary

Consultants from the insurance practice of Willis Towers Watson describe the ways in which cognitive biases overlap with the decisions typically made by insurance professionals and suggest interventions to minimize the impact of these biases.

In fact, many commercial lines insurers are trying to exert greater quality control over underwriter decisions by both systematically capturing the inputs into those decisions and recording sufficient claim detail to attribute outcomes to applicable coverages.

Claim management teams are working on essentially the same issue: collecting more information on claim facts, decisions and outcomes.