Prevent, include, protect: building a more resilient society through insurance
In this new opinion piece, Nathalie Doré, Chief Impact & Innovation Officer shares her insights on the role of insurer in addressing growing social vulnerabilities.
As vulnerabilities increase in a world facing multiple, overlapping crises, insurers are doing far more than simply covering claims. They play a vital role in supporting society as a whole, particularly through prevention and inclusion initiatives. This role will become increasingly important in light of the societal challenges expected over the next decade, especially in the social sphere: ageing populations, the rise of solo living, emerging human and animal diseases, disinformation and more...
Corporate social responsibility at the heart of insurance risk pooling
In recent years, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has focused on two major areas:
- incorporating environmental social and governance (ESG) criteria into corporate decision-making
- Increasing the positive impact of business activities
In insurance, this concept of impact is embedded in our DNA through the principle of risk pooling.
One of the key benefits of risk pooling is accessibility. Without it, the coverage offered by insurance companies would generally be less affordable. By pooling risks, all policyholders share the costs, making insurance coverage more accessible to the most vulnerable members of society.
Prevention: an additional safeguard against social risks
Today, we are frequently warned about the rise in environmental risks and are seeing insurers introduce numerous prevention plans and rightly so. However, it is equally crucial to address social risks, as these are also increasing and can have a lasting impact on individuals and communities. Environmental and social risks are, moreover, often interconnected.
Through their prevention programmes, insurers can play an important role. Take obesity, for example a complex chronic disease that has reached pandemic proportions worldwide. Despite this alarming situation, the World Health Organization maintains that the trend can still be reversed. An analysis of the WHO Acceleration Plan to Stop Obesity shows that prevention measures account for a significant part of the solution.
Such initiatives already exist and have demonstrated their effectiveness, particularly among children, as childhood is when lifestyle habits are formed and when the combined influence of schools and families is especially strong.
Data from trials to which we have contributed show that multi-component school-based interventions combining physical activity, nutrition, health education and parental involvement are particularly effective in preventing excess weight among children in this age group.
Including the most vulnerable by understanding the
different forms of vulnerability
Inclusive involves making insurance products and services designed for people in vulnerable situations accessible thought:
- Affordable pricing
- Specific coverage
- Innovative distribution channels
With the aim of providing them with effective protection.
According to the world health organization, an individual’s’ vulnerability is shaped by physical, social, and environmental factors or process that increase their susceptibility to the impact risks. Three main forms of vulnerability are generally identified
- Health-related
- Social
- Economic vulnerability
For vulnerable populations, access to prevention programmes can provides an additional layer protection. The challenge lies in reaching the most vulnerable.
The insurer’s role is to maximise inclusivity in a complex environment by offering policies that enable people to pursue their life goals. This requires greater access to data, together with its responsible use, in order to avoid excessive personnalisation where this could undermine risk pooling
In the recent years, the insurance industry has made significant progress in developing more inclusive products, particularly in the field of creditor protection insurance. People with aggravated health risks including inflammatory bowel disease, HIV and certain cancers can now obtain coverage that was previously denied or severely restricted.
This progress has been made possible by advances in medicine and across the healthcare
ecosystem as a whole. A better understanding of medical conditions, how they develop and how they are treated enables insurers to refine their risk assessments and expand the scope of insurability.
The AERAS Convention (France) has, of course, played a leading role in extending access to insurance for these groups. But progress does not stop there: several insurers, including BNP Paribas Cardif, are now going beyond the required thresholds, driven by a positive approach designed to serve policyholders’ interests.
In an intermediated distribution model, this goal of inclusion is pursued together with insurance distribution partners. It involves incorporating coverage and services that make protection more effective for end customers while also improving distribution efficiency by limiting refusals and premium surcharges.
Additional mechanisms, such as social action funds, can also provide exceptional support to the most vulnerable populations. If every stakeholder contributes, initiatives that may appear modest at the level of a single company can collectively have a positive impact on society.
Increasing the transparency of insurance offerings
Social inclusion is a central issue because it determines people’s ability to pursue their life goals and contributes to economic and social stability in an uncertain and volatile macroeconomic environment.
Nathalie Doré, Chief Impact & Innovation Officer
Understanding societal challenges and modelling the new risks associated with them enables insurers to ask the right questions: do we currently have the right products to address these risks? If not, how can we adapt them for example, for people experiencing financial vulnerability or facing aggravated health risks?
Maximising insurance’s social impact also requires clear and accessible communication with policyholders. Studies show that there is a strong need for greater education and transparency regarding coverage and policy terms. New online assistants can help people understand insurance products and coverage, provided that they are:
- Free from bias
- Deliver accurate answers
- Handle the data they use appropriately.
Driving progress across the entire market
Continuing to move the market forward requires action across several complementary areas:
- Making insurance offerings easier to understand.
- Strengthening prevention
- Establishing shared industry definitions and standards.
This progress can also be supported by greater market-wide transparency for example, through more systematic reporting of acceptance rates to make improvements visible and encourage increasingly inclusive practices.
By expanding coverage and making protection more effective, the insurance industry will
strengthen its social role over the long term.
