Collaborations Between Health Insurers and Wellness Apps: A Future Trend
Industry experts anticipate that collaborations between health insurance providers and mental health or wellness apps will become a major focus for non-traditional partnerships over the next three years. Data from GlobalData highlights that insurers are increasingly engaging with innovative technology and service providers to enhance their offerings.
According to a recent GlobalData survey conducted for Life Insurance International, 41.1% of participants identified partnerships between health insurers and mental wellness apps as the most crucial non-traditional collaboration in the coming years. This trend underscores the rising emphasis on preventive health care and wellness support within insurance frameworks. Meanwhile, 35.6% of those surveyed pointed to alliances with climate technology firms focused on mitigation infrastructure, signaling insurers' growing involvement in addressing climate risks and bolstering resilience efforts.
The findings suggest that insurers are seeking partnerships that enable proactive risk management and enhance customer engagement. By partnering with mental health and wellness platforms, insurers can aid policyholders in achieving better long-term health outcomes, potentially lowering claims and boosting retention. Collaborations with climate tech companies provide insurers with tools to assess, monitor, and mitigate environmental risks, which are increasingly significant due to escalating climate-related losses.
Additional partnerships are considered relevant but not as critical. For instance, 13.7% of respondents highlighted the importance of motor insurers teaming up with mobility services providers like rideshare and micromobility companies. These partnerships help insurers keep pace with shifting mobility trends and develop products suitable for new transportation models. Another 6.8% of respondents noted the relevance of home insurers integrating with IoT device providers and smart home manufacturers for loss prevention through real-time monitoring and early risk detection.
Conversely, partnerships between life insurers and social media or influencer platforms for wellness incentives were deemed least critical, noted by just 2.7% of respondents. While these could enhance customer engagement and promote healthy behaviors, they are currently viewed as less vital compared to partnerships that directly boost risk mitigation or deliver concrete operational advantages.
Insurers should leverage these emerging partnership opportunities by incorporating preventative services, utilizing real-time data insights, and enhancing value-added offerings. Collaborations with wellness platforms, climate tech companies, and digital infrastructure partners enable insurers to transition toward more proactive and preventative business models, effectively strengthening customer relationships, improving risk assessments, and supporting long-term profitability as the insurance landscape evolves from traditional frameworks.