The rapidly increasing number of "preferred" underwriting and issue products, especially over recent years, has made comparative shopping for life insurance increasingly complex and involved. This is particularly so with respect to term insurance products. While multiple category-classification (aka "preferred") underwriting criteria and issue have existed earlier to some degree, a significant number of prominent and leading insurance companies have adopted this method over the past four years .

The multiple category-classification criteria underwriting and issue method is now well established.  This is particularly so with term insurance products. Term insurance products can no longer be cost compared merely on the basis of age, gender, length of periods and face amount, and "smoker"/"non-smoker".  For instance, definitions for the words"smoker" and "non-smoker" differ substantially among carriers and even among products of the same carrier.

In terms of the underlying underwriting categorization, the only universally applicable definition (one that would hold true for the underwriting and product classification of every product on the market) for the word "smoker" is "currently smoking cigarettes" (with the key words being "currently" and "cigarettes"). Similarly, and also in terms of underwriting categorization, the only universally applicable definition (one that would hold true for the underwriting of every product and product classification on the market) for the words "non-smoker" is "Never ever smoked or used or consumed tobacco, derivatives of tobacco or related substances, including marijuana, during the entirety of life" (the key words being "Never during the entirety of life"). All other situations, cases and circumstances are defined differently by insurers, with numerous and rather significant dissimilarities.

The image below shows PrefMaster-2000's input screen for use of tobacco or other related substances.  As can be seen, the qualification criteria for new breed of multiple category-classification (aka "Preferred") products involve far more than the obsolete and outdated general descriptions of the old terms "smoker" and "non-smoker".  In fact, with respect to past and/or present use of tobacco and/or related substances, the qualification criteria for multiple category-classification products include the aspects of the nature of consumption (cigarettes, cigar, cigarillos, pipe, chewing tobacco, marijuana and other forms) and the number of years since the most recent use or consumption.

PrefMaster-2000™ pop-up window for point-and-click entry of information with respect to the prospective life
insured's history of use or consumption of tobacco and/or related substances

All insurance companies consider full disclosure of past and or present use of tobacco most seriously.  The matter is so serious that the wording of some policy contracts clearly stipulate that any misstatement or omission of disclosure on the application about the lifetime tobacco or related products' consumption by the life insured will void the life insurance contract even beyond the two-year contestability period.   It is the responsibility of the broker or agent or whoever else quotes or advertises life insurance to the public to provide fair and clear disclosure of this key criteria.  A detailed determination of the most recent date(s) of consumption of tobacco and/or related substances - and  the form of consumption - is an absolute necessity and one that cannot be avoided.
 

The word "preferred" does not describe a single classification and has no commonly adopted defined generic meaning.  At best it is only a rough guess.
The word "preferred" has taken on new and different meanings - sometimes very different - with the various products offered on the market. The word "preferred", while becoming more of a marketing word, cannot be considered as a generic naming to a specific, conventionally defined underwriting classification.  At best it is only as a very general, loosely defined, semi-descriptive grouping.  With the advent of multiple category-classification products, the old "preferred" and "regular" classifications were replaced with a range of carrier and/or product specific category-classifications. These multiple category-classifications are based on a combination of criteria. These criteria include tobacco and related substance consumption history, age, height-weight ratios, present medical and health condition, the individual's and the individual's immediate family's medical and health history, occupation and avocation, travel habits, driving record, drug and alcohol use and treatment (if any) therefor, personal financial history, criminal convictions (if any), etc. - and may also include stipulated requirements for minimum face amounts of coverage.

The screen below is another example of a PrefMaster-2000™ pop-up window for data entry with respect to family and personal medical history of the prospective life to be insured.  Similar pop-up window screens as the one above for tobacco consumption and the one below are provided under the headings: "Smoking", "Body Fluids", "Medical", "Occupation", "Avocation", "Travel", "Driving" and "Life Style".

The PrefMaster-2000™ pop-up window for entry of information with respect to immediate family and personal
medical history
 

PrefMaster-2000™ is the first independently produced advanced multiple company life insurance software designed to assist with the challenge of evaluating the prospective life insured's qualifying data with respect to the qualification criteria of the various products and the mutliple sets of differing product qualification criteria. As such it is a field underwriting and risk evaluation tool designed to enhance consumer service and the user's competitive edge. PrefMaster-2000™ is advanced Windows software, yet it is very quick and easy to learn and use.

Utilizing logical and easy to follow layout and mutiple choice menus, much of the information is quickly and easily input by simple point-and-click with the mouse. For items that require further detail, PrefMaster-2000™ automatically presents further multiple choice point-and-click sub menus.

For example, if the question about whether the life insured has ever been treated for elevated BP is answered in the affirmative, PrefMaster-2000™ automatically presents further sub-menus. These point-and-click multiple choice sub menus then ask whether the treatment was with or without medication and when was the treatment rendered.

Most other questions that do not involve multiple choice menus are answerable with single keystroke input of numbers. For example, in the driving questionnaire, the number of moving traffic violations is input under each applicable moving traffic violations category.
 

PrefMaster-2000™ provides for the evaluation of multiple qualification criteria:
Among other aspects, PrefMaster-2000™ covers the following criteria:

1. Age Nearest and Age Last;
2. Gender;
3. Height and Weight (PrefMaster-2000™ accepts input either in metric or imperial measurements or both);
4. Product type;
5. Face Amount;
6. Tobacco and related substances use and/or consumption;
7. Blood Pressure (and any treatment therefor);
8. Cholesterol (and any treatment therefor);
9. Immediate family history of serious and/or critical illness;
10. Death of any member of the immediate family from serious and/or critical illness and age at death;
11. Personal history of critical and/or serious illness;
12. The occupation of the prospective life insured;
13. Avocations of the prospective life insured;
14. Travel habits and planned travel by the prospective life insured including whether the travel is for business or pleasure, the length of stay and travel destinations;
15. Details of the prospective life insured's driving record, noting any moving violations in 11 violation categories;
16. Alcohol abuse history and any history of treatment therefor;
17. Illegal drug use and any history of treatment therefore;
18. Use of any psychoactive drugs and any history of treatment therefor;
19. Excessive use of prescription or 'over the counter' drugs and any history of treatment therefor;
20. Personal bankruptcy and date(s) thereof;
21. Criminal conviction(s) and date(s) thereof;

Quick and easy to use dynamic Action Buttons:
The menus are invoked using PrefMaster-2000™'s topical dynamic Action Buttons, clearly labeled for quick and easy point and click access to each respective menu. The dynamic Action Buttons also present easy notations to indicate whether the respective criteria aspect has been addressed. The dynamic status representations are:

"?": The questions remain outstanding;
"~": Part of the questions has been addressed; however, some remain to be answered;
"v ": The questions of the menu have been answered and none remain outstanding

The picture below shows a sample PrefMaster-2000 evaluation.  As can be seen in this example, all questionnaire pop-up window screens have been fully completed with the exception of "Body Fluids".  In this example, in "Body Fluids", the questions with respect to treatment for elevated blood pressure or cholesterol have been answered in the negative; however the figures for BP and cholesterol were unavailable.   Therefore the " ~ " notation to represent that part of the questions were addressed; however, some remain to be answered.
 

The PrefMaster-2000™ Main Screen after prospective life insured's data was submitted for evaluation
 

Single and Multiple Company Evaluations:
PrefMaster-2000 provides for the evaluation of qualification criteria for either a single company, for a selected group of companies or for all the companies in the system. This is also done by simple and easy mouse point and click. To select one or a group of companies, the user simply clicks on the company(ies) of interest then on the "Submit Data" Action Button. To select or deselect all the companies in the system, the user simply clicks on the "Select/Unselect All" toggle button.

Once the "Submit Data" Action Button is clicked, PrefMaster-2000 performs the qualification criteria evaluation for each of the selected products and displays the evaluation on a pop-up evaluation window. The user then may view the details of the evaluation.
 

Detailed Evaluations:
PrefMaster-2000's Detailed Evaluations are designed to show how the overall qualification evaluation was reached. For example, a hypothetical individual may be athletic and super-healthy to the best of his knowledge. He may also have an uneventful personal medical history and an uneventful immediate family medical history. He may also live a perfectly sound and healthy lifestyle, does not travel for long periods or to dangerous destinations and is not engaged in any hazardous occupations or avocations. The same hypothetical person may have smoked briefly 4 years ago and does not know his BP Cholesterol figures. The general evaluation report for this example would show that the prospective life insured may qualify for a competitive category-classification but not for certain more competitive category-classifications of the same product.

The Detailed Evaluation window for this example would note that (because information with respect to BP Cholesterol was unavailable) evaluations on the basis of BP and cholesterol figures were ignored. On the basis of all other evaluation criteria, however, the Detailed Evaluation window would show that the individual in this example may have qualified for more competitive pricing of the evaluated product had it not been for his brief tobacco use history.

If only a single company's qualification criteria is selected for evaluation, the main screen provides an Action Button, "Detailed Evaluation" for viewing the evaluation details. If more than one company's evaluation criteria is selected for evaluation, the detailed evaluation for any company can be viewed by right-clicking on the company of interest in the evaluation report and then picking the "View Detailed Evaluation" option from the pop-up menu.

Where multiple product permutation is evaluated for a company, the Detailed Evaluation, shows the permutations on the right side of the Detailed Evaluation pop-up window. The user can then view the Detailed Evaluation for each permutation by clicking on the respective option displayed on the right side of the Detailed Evaluation window (Please note: The notation "T" next to the product name represents "Tobacco User" whereas the notation "NT" next to the product name represents "Non-Tobacco").  The picture below shows a sample "Detailed Evaluation" pop-up PrefMaster-2000 window.

The PrefMaster-2000 screen with the Detailed Evaluation widow open for a sample evaluation.
Note:  The product shown  in this example is shown for the purposes of displaying the appearance 
of this function and not for any other purpose whatsoever.
 
 

Printing Reports:
PrefMaster-2000 provides for the printing of the user input for each of the qualification criteria, together with the projected evaluation report.

Print output can be directed to printer that is installed under the user's Windows system as well as to any virtual printer drivers (such as "fax printer" drivers) that may be installed.

Simply click on the printer icon at the top of the main PrefMaster-2000 window, select the printer if you wish then click on "Proceed".
 

Diagnostics:
PrefMaster-2000 provides the user with quick and easy diagnostics. By clicking on the "Diagnostics" icon (second from the right at the top of the PrefMaster-2000 screen), PrefMaster-2000 will diagnose the user input and will instantly identify any unanswered or incompletely answered questions.

Clicking on the word "Diagnostics" on the menu bar at the very top of the PrefMaster-2000 screen provides for two diagnostic options: Diagnostics of the user input as above and diagnostics of the computer system on which PrefMaster-2000 is being run.
 
 

Availability and Subscription to PrefMaster-2000
Subscriptions to PrefMaster-2000 are available to everyone in the profession and practice of life insurance. The software is designed produced and distributed by CompuOffice Software Inc.

Subscription fees to PrefMaster-2000 for LifeGuide subscribers are $99 plus tax per year. For other than LifeGuide subscribers, the subscription fees for PrefMaster-2000 are $299 plus tax per year.

TRADEMARKS

LifeGuide®, Multi-Select®, Across the Board® and Multi-Life®, CompuOffice® are Registered Trademarks of CompuOffice Software Inc.

Multi-Scope, Overdrive , RIF, CCVA, ProFin, Multi-Calc, RINA , LINA , DINA , WinQuote , PrefMaster-2000, AutoWeb, NICE Bar and other Trademarks belonging to CompuOffice Software may be mentioned herein.

Other Trademarks, Registered Trademarks and Service Marks may also be mentioned herein and are the property of their respective owners.
 
 

REWARDS
CompuOffice Software Inc. offers a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the successful prosecution (Criminal and/or Civil) of anyone who engages in unauthorized installation and/or duplication of LifeGuide and/or other violations of its copyright.

CompuOffice Software Inc. offers a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the successful prosecution of violators of its trademarks, Registered Trademarks or Service Marks. All information received is treated confidentially.