Insurance Settlement Industry Founder Refutes Mass Mutual Study; Wm. Scott Page Says Sample Flawed, Findings Exaggerated
ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 6, 2005–Wm. Scott Page, one of the founders of the life insurance settlement industry, issued a response today to the recent study, underwritten by Massachusetts Mutual Life, of the life settlement market. He notes that the study’s limited sample is a critical flaw, and its findings are biased and exaggerated. Life insurance settlements enable individuals, typically seniors or the terminally ill, to sell existing life insurance policies for sums that exceed their cash surrender values.
Mass Mutual and several other insurers commissioned Deloitte Consulting and the University of Connecticut to analyze the burgeoning life insurance settlement industry. According to Page, who performed one of the first life insurance settlements in 1989 and is currently president and CEO of settlement provider The Lifeline Program(R), the study’s sample data is flawed.
“The insurance industry study appears thorough, but it never mentions how many policies it actually analyzed,” said Page. “Research based on un-representative samples is always suspicious. Remember, Dewey didn’t defeat Truman.”
Page also notes that the insurance industry’s attempt to apply findings from State of New York Department of Insurance filings to the rest of the market is misleading. New York, unlike other states, does not require settlement companies to report the very transaction data that the study claims to have analyzed. Further, Page notes, the study only looks at $225 million in face value of policies sold over a four-year period, which only represents an infinitesimal fraction of the market. He also believes that the data could have all come from one company that voluntarily chose to report its life settlement transactions to New York.
“It’s complicated, but essentially all of the data that was used was either volunteered or reported by accident,” said Page. “Adding further insult, because the total face amount analyzed is so small, it’s possible that it all came from one company, which would skew the findings according to that company’s settlement rates. In the end, the findings are exaggerated.”
Even with the suspect data, Page believes the study overlooks a key point: Individuals who sell policies are not well served by the insurance industry because their coverage is either too expensive or obsolete.
“All the research in the world can’t refute the fact that sometimes policyholders don’t need their coverage anymore,” he continued. “The insurance industry wants policyholders to keep paying premiums even if they go broke in the process. Our industry can’t advocate that.”
Regarding individual findings in the study, such as its attack on transaction costs and marketing tactics, Page is undaunted. He notes that settlement companies, like insurers, charge a fair price for a fair product in a competitive marketplace, and consumers are well served by financial advisors who often advocate settlements.
“The study affirms that a life settlement always beats the cash surrender value of a policy,” said Page. “The insurance industry is finally admitting that we have a good product, but the admission is veiled in the study’s unfounded allegations.”
Call Life Settlement Pro at 1-888-973-8377 with any questions regarding life settlements or life insurance settlements.
