“Policies for the person, not the condition” – Bluezone calls for a sea change in underwriting chronic illnesses

Bluezone are redefining life insurance for people with chronic illnesses. In this eye-opening interview, Dr. Karan Mehta, the Co-Founder & CEO, reveals the ways in which traditional underwriting methods are failing to meet the needs of customers, expounds on the urgency of underwriting transformation and highlights the potential of an AI-powered future.

In what ways are traditional underwriting methods failing to meet the needs of customers with chronic illnesses? What can be done to better serve this population?

Traditional underwriting methods use outdated methods and models resulting in lengthy application processes, imprecise modelling and a poor customer experience. This results in customers being declined, being quoted expensive premiums and being referred to manual underwriting where a GP report is required to issue a policy, and which takes on average 3 months.

At Bluezone we believe that every single policy should be built differently. Because every person is built differently. We’re offering policies for the person, not the condition. Which means we’ll offer a fully personalised, precise plan, along with offering insights and support to consistently improve health.

We are aiming to offer our policyholders the following:

– Faster onboarding – remove the need for manual underwriting & remove the need for GP Reports

– Convenience – offer a fully digital online journey that doesn’t require an adviser or broker to complete the form and can be accessed from any device 24/7

– Personalise cover – price policies for the individual, not the condition – make fairer

– Offer more value to customers over the term and help them to live a healthier life by offering a proven behaviour change programme.

As health and mortality trends continue to evolve, how do underwriting models need to adapt to meet the changing demands of the market?

What innovative data sources are emerging to inform risk modelling in life insurance?

There are multiple data sources that could be accessed to inform risk modelling in life Insurance. These include Electronic Health Care records and national audit datasets that can provide data to help offer more accurate and personalised policies. There are also open-source datasets and wearable health data from smartphones and trackers that will give further information on policyholders’ health and fitness habits.

How can cutting-edge technology be leveraged to revolutionize insurance for those with type 2 diabetes?

Cutting-edge technology such as AI Underwriting tech will have a huge impact on delivering insurance solutions to people suffering from a chronic illness. It will allow us to understand the complex relationships of health data – with a high degree of accuracy offering the most fair and precise prices that reflects the customer’s exact health profile.

It will utilise exact risk factor values to further output precise and personalised prices and will fully automate the process, so no manual underwriting is required. This will result in faster onboarding for the customer and reduce costs for the insurer as it will reduce the need for a GP report (£100/report) and remove the need for human underwriting.

Also, digital onboarding tech will allow chatbot functionality to fully manage customer onboarding allowing them to buy a policy online from wherever at any time without having to be called several times by a broker.