Want to better understand the latest trends and developments in the life and health insurance industry?
Findings from RGA’s 2021 portfolio of surveys can help insurance leaders understand the past and better prepare for 2022. Topics range from the continuing impacts of COVID-19, evolving approaches to wellness, eldercare, and impacts to distribution and claims.
Highlights:
- As expected, increases in claims during the pandemic were led by mortality benefits, followed by health and disability income claims. The largest impairments contributing to long COVID claims are respiratory, fatigue, and mental health issues. Further, complexities from the pandemic are increasing the need for diversified skills of the insurance medical director.
- The global pandemic is continuing to reshape the life and health insurance industry, face-to-face sales diminished, higher lapse rates continued, and wellness-type products offered enhanced engagement and incentivized healthy behaviors.
- An overwhelming majority of survey participants globally prioritized wellness after the onset of the pandemic, and technology is increasingly used to improve mental health and/or overall wellbeing, often through telehealth and digital wellness application platforms and programs.
- Health insurers are embracing the bottom-line benefits that genetic testing, pharmacogenetics, and precision medicine offer, such as tailored healthcare that may reduce overall claims, wastage, and sick time while improving productivity at work.
- When it comes to eldercare, insurers are using virtual care technologies to promote healthy living and support physical, mental, and financial wellbeing.
