Insurers to work with fitness trackers to incentivise a healthy audience

Max Bupa had tied-up with fitness technology firm GOQii to provide users access to the latter's wellness engine

Less than one-third of India’s population enjoys any form of health insurance, with private players reportedly penetrating merely five per cent. Given the vast challenges and opportunities offered by the country’s health care sector — served largely by private companies — insurers view technology as a key tool to innovate products and thereby exploit an untapped market. No wonder, private health insurers are looking to work with fitness trackers and wearables firms to help design coverage plans that incentivise a health-conscious audience.

Sandeep Patel, CEO and MD, Cigna TTK Health Insurance, points out apps and wearables help monitor a user’s health and a healthy customer is considered a low-risk one. “A healthy profile of customers is always beneficial for a health insurance firm. The data captured from apps/wearable devices can help predict the health of the customer and take necessary steps if the health needs any improvement.”

On December 6, 2017, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India constituted a working group to examine innovations in the insurance sector that involve wearable or portable devices. This, Patel feels, is an encouraging step that will propel the use of wearable devices that can be synced with health insurance.

Cigna TTK’s product called “Get ProActiv” is designed to reward people to be physically active. It is integrated with Cigna TTK’s innovative Healthy Rewards Program allowing customers to earn valuable incentives by tracking their activities through “Get ProActiv” by integrating select wearable devices. Healthy Reward points are earned on the basis of the quantum of physical activity, which then translate into lower health insurance premiums or increased benefits of up to 10 per cent of the premium amount.

According to Ashish Mehrotra, MD & CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance, offering pre-emptive wellness solutions for maintaining health is an effective way to engage with young customers and encourage them to buy insurance. “The segment of customers under 35 years is very active digitally and is turning to technology to stay fit,” he says, adding that by 2019 two out of five Internet users are expected to be using a health app with likely engagement with such tools of up to 50 per cent. “This gives us a huge opportunity to promote holistic wellness by leveraging personal health care devices that are capable of tracking and relaying medically useful information.”

Last year, Max Bupa announced a tie-up with fitness technology firm GOQii to provide users access to the latter’s personalised wellness engine. According to the International Data Corporation, as of Q1 2017, GOQii led the wearables market in India with 20.8 per cent share, followed by Xiaomi and Fitbit.

Abhishek Sharma, chief marketing officer and co-founder, GOQii, explains the opportunity for companies in this space is not in the hardware aspect, given that devices like smartphones can perform functions like wearables. “Where the fitness tracker or wearable add value is as a data capturing device, and the ecosystem approach which we have is the one that can help users in defining any kind of meaningful intervention for their health.” The impact on the health of the user is therefore critical.

The scope of the wearable device is in capturing the relevant information. GOQii defines itself as a smart preventive health care platform, as against a tracker, and it gives wearables free as part of the subscriptions to customers. It also provides the services of a care team that includes doctors and experts to users. “That’s what the user wants today,” says Sharma.

The partnership with Max Bupa is based on the proposition that a healthy customer gets a better insurance premium. “Insurance is still a push product in India, and not a pull product primarily because we don’t feel the need of it. The problem is that a healthy consumer is subsiding the cost of an unhealthy consumer,” says Sharma, adding that a fit consumer being bracketed into a particular based on age, gender et al is unfair. The tie-up with Max Bupa therefore aims to better profile consumers — enabling them to get healthier and also the insurance industry to have a better understanding of the consumer base.

 “The insurance industry has the least touchpoint with the consumer today, which is unfortunate. So, the ecosystem approach is going to have a huge impact in the insurance sector,” says Sharma, adding that in the past five months under the National Health Service in the UK clinics have been prescribing GOQii for solutions to various diseases.

Keeping Track

• Wearables help monitor a user’s health and a healthy customer is considered low-risk
• By 2019, two out of five Internet users are expected to be using a health app with likely engagement of up to 50 per cent
• The opportunity for wearables is not in terms of hardware, but in adding value as data capturing devices