Monthly LRA Update

LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENTS

Build Back Better Act Update

On December 19 Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced in a Sunday morning news interview that he would not vote in support of the Build Back Better Act. This decision effectively stalled the legislation, as the Senate Democrats needed unanimous support within the party to pass the legislation.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a press release following Manchin’s announcement, challenging his concerns and vowing to continue efforts on the legislation into 2022.

We will continue to monitor for any potential revisions to the legislation and progress with the discussions.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

ACLI Releases Update on Life Insurance Benefits During COVID-19 Pandemic

On December 9 the ACLI released an update on the amount of life insurance benefits that were paid to beneficiaries in 2020. According to the article, benefits in 2020 increased by 15.4% from 2019; the largest increase since the 1918 influenza pandemic.

On December 21 the CDC released final 2020 US mortality data on deaths and death rates. In total, the life expectancy at birth decreased 1.8 years (from 78.8 to 77.0).

We maintain an ongoing mortality study with respect to the insured lives we administer. The number of deaths in our population in 2020 increased by 12.6% relative to the average deaths from the prior three years. However, the Actual-to-Expected mortality ratio did not change materially in aggregate.