[Is family history dispensable?]

As an element of risk assessment in applications for life insurance, family medical history has a particular significance since given impairments can occur more frequently within families. Family history is not only genetic in nature. Depending on the impairment, it is also explained by external factors. There has been little literature on this topic so far, although the spectrum of family history-related impairments is very large, and their effect is highly dependent on the type of product. This paper presents a new method for assessing the effects of information contained in family history on claims, based on typical age patterns for German life insurance products (life, disability and long term care insurance), using the example of breast cancer and schizophrenia. This method helps life insurers to better understand what impact questions on family history during the stage of application have on the risk. Thus, the study contributes to the often discussed question on how essential questions on family history are.