https://www.thecentersquare.co...41-5b2c06725e2c.html


The head of Indianapolis-based insurance company OneAmerica said the death rate is up a stunning 40% from pre-pandemic levels among working-age people.
“We are seeing, right now, the highest death rates we have seen in the history of this business – not just at OneAmerica,” the company’s CEO Scott Davison said during an online news conference this week. “The data is consistent across every player in that business.”

OneAmerica is a $100 billion insurance company that has had its headquarters in Indianapolis since 1877. The company has approximately 2,400 employees and sells life insurance, including group life insurance to employers in the state.

Davison said the increase in deaths represents “huge, huge numbers,” and that’s it’s not elderly people who are dying, but “primarily working-age people 18 to 64” who are the employees of companies that have group life insurance plans through OneAmerica.

“And what we saw just in third quarter, we’re seeing it continue into fourth quarter, is that death rates are up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic,” he said.

“Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a one-in-200-year catastrophe would be 10% increase over pre-pandemic,” he said. “So 40% is just unheard of.”

Davison was one of several business leaders who spoke during the virtual news conference on Dec. 30 that was organized by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
Most of the claims for deaths being filed are not classified as COVID-19 deaths, Davison said.

“What the data is showing to us is that the deaths that are being reported as COVID deaths greatly understate the actual death losses among working-age people from the pandemic. It may not all be COVID on their death certificate, but deaths are up just huge, huge numbers.”

He said at the same time, the company is seeing an “uptick” in disability claims, saying at first it was short-term disability claims, and now the increase is in long-term disability claims.

“For OneAmerica, we expect the costs of this are going to be well over $100 million, and this is our smallest business. So it’s having a huge impact on that,” he said.

He said the costs will be passed on to employers purchasing group life insurance policies, who will have to pay higher premiums.

The CDC weekly death counts, which reflect the information on death certificates and so have a lag of up to eight weeks or longer, show that for the week ending Nov. 6, there were far fewer deaths from COVID-19 in Indiana compared to a year ago – 195 verses 336 – but more deaths from other causes – 1,350 versus 1,319.

These deaths were for people of all ages, however, while the information referenced by Davison was for working-age people who are employees of businesses with group life insurance policies.

At the same news conference where Davison spoke, Brian Tabor, the president of the Indiana Hospital Association, said that hospitals across the state are being flooded with patients “with many different conditions,” saying “unfortunately, the average Hoosiers’ health has declined during the pandemic.”

In a follow-up call, he said he did not have a breakdown showing why so many people in the state are being hospitalized – for what conditions or ailments. But he said the extraordinarily high death rate quoted by Davison matched what hospitals in the state are seeing.

"What it confirmed for me is it bore out what we're seeing on the front end,..." he said.

The number of hospitalizations in the state is now higher than before the COVID-19 vaccine was introduced a year ago, and in fact is higher than it’s been in the past five years, Dr. Lindsay Weaver, Indiana’s chief medical officer, said at a news conference with Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday.

Just 8.9% of ICU beds are available at hospitals in the state, a low for the year, and lower than at any time during the pandemic. But the majority of ICU beds are not taken up by COVID-19 patients – just 37% are, while 54% of the ICU beds are being occupied by people with other illnesses or conditions.

The state's online dashboard shows that the moving average of daily deaths from COVID-19 is less than half of what it was a year ago. At the pandemic's peak a year ago, 125 people died on one day – on Dec. 29, 2020. In the last three months, the highest number of deaths in one day was 58, on Dec. 13.

Drug overdoses is large contributor to those numbers.

No surprise here. Just a wordy explanation of profits are down and we are raising rates. At least he did not blame guns.

Keep in mind a percentage increase is an inflated way of presenting the numbers.

If 10,000 nationwide were dying, and now it's 14,000, thats a 40% increase.

What would be the biggest cause if its not Covid?

quote:

Originally posted by Tirod:

What would be the biggest cause if its not Covid?

Certain experimental drugs perhaps?

^^^Perhaps...

lol, right, it's the medicine.

fucking ridiculous.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
No surprise here. Just a wordy explanation of profits are down and we are raising rates. At least he did not blame guns.

Normally I'd agree with you on this one, but I really think both the insurance company CEO 'and' the hospital group are sending up a flare that something is very wrong, and it isn't Covid. Doesn't much matter because no one in charge is listening to any of this.

I know some of the people in the recovery movement mentioned that the increased substance use from Wuhan stress would kill far more than the Wuhan virus.

Is he sure it's not 50% and the cause was Thanos acquiring all the Infinity Stones?

Drug overdoses are way up. Suicides are up.

Indianapolis had a record number of murders in 2021, so there's that.

Add drug overdoses, alcohol abuse, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and the fact that many people have not been getting screened, diagnosed and treated for these illnesses over the past 2 years and it starts to add up.

In any case the devil is in the details, and life insurance companies are going to determine the causes of death, the relevant risk factors and price their insurance accordingly. Their business is predicting people's lifespans based on health records and various risk factors and they are pretty good at it. Let's see what they data shows when they release it...

50% of the ICU admissions in my local hospital network in Sept-Nov 2021 were either mental health related or drug overdoses. (or both)

Additionally,many of my friends have "gained" weight during this crisis, in some cases significant amounts. They stopped going to the gym, eat like shit, and drink a lot to forget about all the bullshit going on every evening. (and worse)

Add on what Lefty mentioned above regarding screenings and preventative care and you have the perfect storm.

Good point Graniteguy. A good number of my friends were in good shape and gym regulars but many quit working out when the 600 days to slow the spread first started.

No one really talks about it but this virus really messed up a lot of people with regards to mental health.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Good point Graniteguy. A good number of my friends were in good shape and gym regulars but many quit working out when the 600 days to slow the spread first started.

No one really talks about it but this virus really messed up a lot of people with regards to mental health.

I guess I'm an outlier. As far as I can tell, it really hasn't affected me mentally, I just ignore it. IMHO, 99% of what you hear via the MSM (and most of my relatives...) is pure bullshit.

I just go on with my life and only put up with the various restrictions when I have no choice.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
lol, right, it's the medicine.

fucking ridiculous.

Medicine he calls it

Couldn't possibly be the medicine! No reason to suspect panicked politicians would stampede their constituents into taking experimental treatments so said politicians can pretend they are mitigating the 'crisis'.

This whole Covid thing has been going on long enough, that if the gov't. had just said at the beginning something to the effect of "Get healthy, stop smoking, lose weight, exercise more, hydrate more, take more vitamins A, C and D and zinc. etc." it would have had a ginmormous effect by now, both in stemming the ride of Covid and getting people healthier in general. But where would the profit be in that?

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Good point Graniteguy. A good number of my friends were in good shape and gym regulars but many quit working out when the 600 days to slow the spread first started.

No one really talks about it but this virus really messed up a lot of people with regards to mental health.

Man was not meant to be isolated from his fellow man and it leads to mental problems.

As they are the largest underwriter of group life insurance I’m interested to see what the numbers are from policy holders of Met Life.

It seems important to remember that these numbers are from employer-sponsored plans; in other words these percentage figures are derived from the employed. No doubt the percentage increases are even higher among the unemployed.


Silent