Wellness Providers – How Life and Health Insurers are Looking to Redefine Themselves

GlobalData’s Insight Report: Wellness Providers – How Life and Health Insurers are Looking to Redefine Themselves analyzes the evolution of wellness programs in workplaces, and how this impacts health and life insurers.
Key findings include:
• The increased availability of affordable health tracking and monitoring devices is transforming the possibilities of active risk management in the life and health insurance segments.
• Given the rising cost of healthcare resulting from higher life expectancies and the high costs of new drugs, health insurers are increasingly focusing on adding value to individuals and companies, as well as providing cover for negative health events.
• There is also a potentially wider benefit from the availability of efficient health-monitoring technology and associated data flows, which enable insurers to embed themselves closer to the consumer.
• Popular technological advances are driven by companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon, which have a broad understanding of the scope of technology in healthcare, thereby increasing competition for insurers.
• Insurers are aware of this threat and have started utilizing venture capital to invest in insurtech startups, to benefit from disruption instead of becoming victims to it.
• Insurance companies looking to interact more frequently with policyholders about lifestyles require data and technological knowledge that is best accessed by younger, agile firms that specialize in healthcare technology.

Scope

• Definitions and strategies for the successful implementation of wellness programs

• Profiles of popular wellness providers

• Regulations pertaining to wellness programs

• The impact of wellness programs on insurers

• Insurers' approaches to integration with wellness programs

Key Highlights

• Wellness programs were initially introduced as employee incentives by large corporations, to improve the health of employees and their families and encourage a fitness culture to reduce healthcare costs both for employees and employers.

• According to statistics from Corporate Wellness magazine, every US$1 invested in an employee wellness program results in around US$4 of savings through reduced sick leave, higher productivity and lower overall health costs.

• Data received from individual wellness reports or programs helps insurers to devise bespoke policies and charge premiums based on health data for groups of people.

• Laws surrounding incentives for insurance premiums as a part of wellness programs require careful evaluation before implementation.

• The Global Wellness Institute expects the value of wellness programs to reach US$40 billion globally by 2021, despite the fact that around 9% of the global workforce has access to these programs at the workplace.

Reasons to Buy

• Build an understanding of the concept of wellness programs

• Develop an insight into the regulation of wellness programs

• Gain an overview of the major wellness providers

• Gain an understanding of the opportunities for insurers due to growth of wellness programs