Thematic Intelligence: Health and Wellness in Insurance

This report explores how insurers are adapting to heightened interest in health and wellbeing. It examines the state of the market for individual policies and group policies separately, covering key market drivers and consumers’ degree of concern around different health and wellbeing aspects. It examines how businesses and employees view different employee benefits, with a focus on those traditionally offered by insurance providers. The report also examines how the industry has responded in terms of new product innovations and which companies have been at the forefront of this.

Insurers are enhancing their wellness offerings beyond traditional insurance products, providing a diverse range of solutions aimed at addressing key aspects of wellbeing such as physical, mental, and financial health. The industry's innovation has been spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and current cost-of-living challenges, underscoring the significance of overall wellness. As employees transition back to the workplace, there is a growing emphasis on work-life balance, with companies exploring alternative work models like the four-day workweek and hybrid arrangements to better meet employee needs. Insurers are evolving their role from simply processing medical claims to actively promoting customer health and wellness to prevent illnesses. Utilizing wearables to incentivize healthy behaviors through gamification, insurers are creating win-win scenarios that benefit both consumers and insurers through reduced claims and improved health outcomes.

Scope

• The analyst’s 2024 Q1 Consumer Survey found that 73.1% of consumers are concerned to some degree about their mental wellbeing, while 80.3% are concerned to some degree about their physical fitness and health.
• Overall, 44.9% of consumers are likely to share biometric data from an activity tracker with a life insurer. However, the key barriers include concerns around disclosing private information to providers and not wanting a device.
• Soft-support services are the benefit least valued by both employers and employees, even though insurers offer these as their primary wellness options.

Reasons to Buy

• Understand how businesses and employees view different employee benefits.
• Ensure you remain competitive as new innovations and insurance models begin to enter the market.
• Be prepared for how regulation will impact the use of biometric devices in insurance over the next few years.
• Understand key market drivers and consumers’ degree of concern around different health and wellbeing aspects.