Claims Are the Moment of Truth—for the People We Serve and the Trust We Build

When I was a financial advisor, I knew what it meant to get “the call.”

A spouse. A son. A daughter. Reaching out not just for answers—but for support. In those moments, you’re not just helping someone navigate a process. You’re helping them honor a life. And more often than not, you’re stepping into a promise made long ago—one born from love, planning, and trust.+

When that promise is met with clarity and compassion, it strengthens trust in the industry and in the institutions we represent. But when that promise is delayed or buried in confusion, the damage can’t always be measured in dollars. It shows up in lost relationships. In severed loyalty. In the policy that never gets renewed. Or the adult child who quietly vows never to buy life insurance again.

Claims Are the Moment of Truth: Why Insurance Needs to Get Proactive Now

This episode highlights the critical shift insurers must make from manual, reactive claims processes to automated, proactive engagement—especially in the face of regulatory pressure and rising customer expectations. Listeners will gain insight into the operational, reputational, and generational costs of inaction, and learn why planning for scalability and automation is no longer optional—it’s essential.

Unclaimed Benefits Aren’t Just a Back-Office Problem

We’ve seen growing regulatory attention on unpaid or unclaimed life insurance benefits in recent years. These investigations have revealed what many in the industry already know: despite best intentions, systemic challenges can prevent policyholders’ final wishes from reaching the people they were meant for.

And when a claim isn’t filed in time—whether because the carrier never knew the policyholder had passed, or the beneficiary didn’t know a policy existed—those funds may eventually be escheated to the state.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: many states aren’t strongly incentivized to find those beneficiaries. Escheated funds often become a revenue source, diverted into general funds or held without urgency. That leaves grieving families unaware of what they’re owed—and policyholder intentions unfulfilled.

This Is a Problem of Proactivity

The industry doesn’t suffer from a lack of care. It suffers from a lack of visibility and outdated process.

Legacy systems make it difficult to act quickly. Siloed data makes it hard to confirm when a policyholder has passed. Disconnected workflows mean that even when death is confirmed, it can take days—or longer—to begin the outreach.

That’s why we must stop thinking of claims as something that begins when someone calls. Claims should begin when the policyholder can no longer speak for themselves. And that takes a proactive mindset.

So How Do We Get There?

Proactivity requires more than intention—it requires infrastructure.

It means building the capacity to:

• Regularly and automatically match death data across all in-force policies
• Trigger secure, compliant outreach without waiting for a claimant to appear
• Guide beneficiaries through a simple, compassionate experience that doesn’t add to their burden
• Address all lines of business—from life to annuity to living benefits—with the same urgency and clarity

Some carriers are already on this path. Others may still be early in their modernization journey. But what’s most important now is that we all begin planning for how we get there.

Because automation doesn’t happen overnight. And data isn’t transformed without intention. But the longer we wait to lay the foundation, the harder it becomes to restore the trust that’s lost along the way.

A Call to Lead—Not Just Respond

There will always be regulations. There will always be audits. But the standard we aspire to shouldn’t be defined by compliance.
It should be defined by the people we serve—and the promises we help fulfill.

If we want to protect the integrity of our industry, and the loyalty of the generations who come after, we must act now to reimagine the claims experience. Not as a transaction, but as a moment of care. Not as a process triggered by a phone call, but as a commitment honored with intention.

Because when we meet that moment with the right mindset—and the right tools—we don’t just close a claim.

• We strengthen a legacy.
• We protect a relationship.
• And we uphold the very purpose of insurance.