Ross Morton's articles span decades of insight into the life insurance industry — from underwriting philosophy and reinsurance to management and the advisor-underwriter relationship.
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"Resolved: Underwriters Must Be Increasingly Prudent In Their …"
A lively 1994 debate panel at the Institute of Home Office Underwriters exploring whether prudent underwriting is the key to future mortality and profitability goals.
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Is There Life After Underwriting? (A History Lesson Perhaps?)
Written as part of a presentation at the January 1983 Cholua Seminar, this article serves as a history lesson for today's underwriters and leadership about industry statistics and the state of rated cases.
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Hate To Be Critical Of One's Hosts, But …
An opinion paper on attending an industry leader's infomercial — constructively critical observations on the day's presentations and what they mean for the future of life insurance.
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Financial Underwriting, Why Bother?
Exploring the historical conflict between underwriter and advisor perspectives on financial underwriting, from 1956 actuarial transactions to today's challenges.
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Jumbo Limits Compensating For Terrible Administration
A look at how reinsurance evolved from a minor player holding 0.04% of Canadian life risk in 1969 to its modern role, and how jumbo limits became a response to administrative challenges.
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Two Hymn Books and Two Choir Masters
A 2011 opinion on the relationship between advisor and underwriter — the battle to get insurance applications through mysterious new business departments is far from new.
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An Actuary, an Underwriter and a Marketer In A Boat
Three key disciplines explain the state of the insurance industry — exploring whether the glass is half full or half empty, and addressing appalling customer service.
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Statistic Advisors Want To See
On the importance of industry statistics — how many cases are disputed at claim time, denied, litigated, or compromised? The numbers that matter most to advisors.
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"The Reinsurer Made Me Do It"
From the closet of obscurity to the brunt of all risk selection criticism — how reinsurance transformed over three decades from quiet follower to industry scapegoat.
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Struggles With Risk Selection
Written for Pravartak, the Journal of Insurance and Risk Management — on how financial planners and agents can learn to work with the underwriting process rather than against it.