Increased availability of affordable health tracking and monitoring devices is transforming the possibilities of active risk management in the life and health insurance sector. These devices enable insurers to link premiums to policyholders’ activity and diets, improving the ability to generate underwriting profits from increased margins.

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 on occasions of negative health events. Insurers need to be more involved in preventive care to increase the salience of the benefits of health insurance.

The technology threat
Insurers are harnessing increasingly applicable and affordable technology to enhance consumer offerings, which offers substantial growth opportunities for the sector. 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.

While Apple is taking a more hardware-focused approach to healthcare and looking to enhance product sales in the healthcare and insurance sectors, Google subsidiary Verily is gradually growing its foothold in the managed care space. This is a much more direct step into the US healthcare sector.