Here’s a radical idea: Life insurance should be about, well, life.
For too many years, life insurance has effectively been death insurance, focused primarily on paying out lump sums on a policyholder’s passing. Reimagining this long-standing approach – and putting the life back into life insurance – starts with harnessing insurance as a tool to enhance policyholders’ physical, mental and financial wellbeing.
How can the industry meet this challenge?
Well, at YuLife, we’re transforming group life insurance into a suite of wellbeing and insurance products – a paradigm shift toward a model that simultaneously supports members, insurers and employers. Members benefit from improved wellbeing, while insurers gain from an approach that de-risks policyholders via healthy activities and employers gain the esteem of their employees by offering a product that offers tangible value to their lives – making for a happier, healthier, more productive workforce.
At YuLife, which recently completed a £50 million Series B round, policies come with the standard features of group life but add critical illness, income protection, virtual general practitioner (GP) services and employment assistance such as counseling and coaching. Based on the latest behavioral science, artificial intelligence and game mechanics, policyholders are offered discounts and vouchers from leading brands, including Amazon, ASOS and Avios, in exchange for completing everyday wellness activities like walking, cycling, meditation and mindfulness exercises. Many policyholders lead healthier lives while safeguarding their loved ones’ financial future. None of it would be possible without the intelligent, efficient and purposeful use of technology.
See also: Where Does Life Insurance Go Now?
Among the key principles underpinning the transition to a new model of life insurance is gamification, which allows policyholders to reap tangible rewards and “level up” upon completing a given set of tasks. These enjoyable, engaging experiences enable lower premium costs and better physical and mental health while also playing into policyholders’ competitive instincts and our natural love for quests and challenges with our friends and colleagues.
Additionally, AI-driven insights empower employers to tailor their offerings toward individual employees’ needs and identify gaps and opportunities in their wellbeing strategies. The fusion of gamification, app development and data science creates a whole greater than the sum of its parts, with more touchpoints between the insurer and policyholder – making it likelier that policyholders will keep their policies.
Where Technology and Insurance Meet
The last major innovation in life insurance was arguably the introduction of higher premiums for smokers in the 1960s. A lot has changed in the past half century – and for life insurance to meet the needs of modern consumers, the industry must build products that are accessible, user-friendly and valuable to users’ everyday lives.
Insurtech opens a world of exciting possibilities – pointing toward a future where life insurance is actually conducive to a better life.
