Discovery Life
Emerging tech like AI-driven underwriting and VO2 max measures via wearables – are transforming how life insurers personalise products and assess risk. Discovery Life and global reinsurer Hannover Re share their 2025 predictions on which technologies will take the industry forward.
Discovery Life, known for its shared-value insurance model, has transformed traditional life insurance by incentivising and rewarding clients for healthy behaviour. The model, powered by more than two decades of data insights and analysis, enables a cycle of value creation. Everyone benefits, because healthier clients mean a healthier risk pool.
While this kind of innovation is underpinned by data, it doesn’t end there. With ever-evolving client needs and increasing digitisation, technology transforming life insurance is only at the “tip of the iceberg”, according to Discovery Life CEO Riaan van Reenen. “The potential for even greater enhancement, from using AI to improve underwriting efficiencies to creating highly personalised product offerings, is huge.”
For Lisa Balboa, Head of the Life and Health Digital Business Accelerator at global reinsurer Hannover Re, this is just the beginning.
Powerful technologies like AI, automation, innovative use of video selfies, and valuable data insights from wearables are set to redefine life insurance. “The industry is on the verge of tailoring life insurance products to meet changing health and lifestyle needs like never before,” says Balboa. “This is possible through greater digitalisation and embracing cutting-edge tech – in 2025 and beyond.”
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The life insurance tech trends to look out for in 2025
Van Reenen and Balboa note that Discovery Life and Hannover Re have tested various technologies over the years to enhance the insurance journey for advisers and clients alike. They agree that emerging tech shows huge potential to transform insurance as we know it.
These are their predictions on what will impact the insurance industry in 2025:
The value of VO2 max
VO2 max, a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness, is gaining traction as a potential underwriting tool. VO2 max measures the maximum amount of oxygen that your body can use when you’re exercising. Recent research by Discovery Vitality shows that even a moderate improvement in VO2 max can reduce risk of death by 21-30%. ”The correlation between health and VO2 max is strong according to scientific evidence,” explains Van Reenen. “Generally, a higher VO2 max equates to better aerobic endurance, and knowing and improving VO2 max helps improve overall health.”
“In the long-term, cardio fitness not only influences how long one will live but also how many of those years will be in good health. Because VO2 max estimates can be collected from wearable devices, this has become a valuable metric.”
Video selfies – the future of health insights
Balboa highlights how Hannover Re is piloting video selfies to assess health indicators like blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose levels. She notes that this tech isn’t 100% accurate yet, so Hannover Re has adopted a multi-variate approach that includes broader general health measures taken by nurses and comparing those with the selfie readings.
“Through a 30-second video selfie taken using a bespoke app on a person’s mobile phone, we aim to segment customers by risk level into those who need further medical testing during underwriting and those who don’t,” she says. “What’s more, the accuracy of the algorithms giving these health insights is improving, so this tech shows plenty of promise.”
Heart Rate Variability and Resting Heart Rate as key health indicators
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is emerging as a key indicator of physical well-being. According to Balboa, HRV reflects the body’s ability to respond to stress, and a higher HRV reading signals better stress management.
She notes that studies also show a link between HRV and mental health. “We’re at the early stages of exploring the use of this measure in an insurance context. The measure could potentially be used as a screening tool for the underwriting of mental health stress. For clients where HRV indicates mental stress, the insurer could proactively guide that individual, offering support to manage their mental well-being before a claim event occurs on a life, health or disability insurance policy.”
Resting Heart Rate (RHR) is another valuable measure for insurers. “If you look at the literature, there’s a documented link between RHR and mortality (lower RHR is associated with lower mortality risk). Based on this, insurers can develop pricing strategies where clients with good heart health benefit directly, like getting possible premium discounts for life insurance.”
AI to transform underwriting
AI is revolutionising underwriting by automating decision-making and enhancing accuracy. Discovery Life utilises AI to digitise historical underwriting data, providing insights that improve both efficiency and outcomes, as well as greater personalisation.
“AI can identify high- and low-risk cases for automatic processing, freeing up underwriters to focus on more complex cases,” adding, “personalisation has always been a feature of Discovery Life’s Shared-value insurance model.” According to Van Reenen, the more AI is used to enhance personalisation into that model, the more it will benefit the clients and the risk pool.
“An exciting development is the introduction of the Personal Health Pathways (PHP) benefit at the beginning of 2025, which Discovery Life is launching in partnership with Discovery Health,” adds Van Reenen. “Through PHP, Discovery is customising the client experience even more. By using personalised data and AI, we will nudge clients on their next best health goal to complete and they will receive a dynamic reward for that. I think we’ll see much healthier and happier clients on the back of this new offering.”
More integration of third-party health data
The integration of third-party health data is unlocking new possibilities. According to Balboa, in some global markets, country health systems’ data is already available digitally via APIs (software interfaces that allow different applications to communicate with each other). “In the U.S., for example, Hannover Re has partnered with one of the big lab groups to obtain pathology data, like blood test results, from consenting customers. We can then feed that data into the underwriting rules engine when the customer applies for insurance to enable auto-decisions, when appropriate.”
She adds that digital health data such as electronic health records and pathology lab data can enhance product availability for impaired lives. For example, in Australia, a recent pilot study using electronic health records (EHRs) tested whether EHRs could enable cover in previously declined applications.
“If someone would have traditionally been declined before for cardiovascular underwriting (in the direct to consumer, no medical evidence model environment), the insurer could instead ask the customer for consent to review their electronic health records. The goal is to, where possible, provide them with insurance coverage either on their original product terms or on a modified version of the same product with a more limited sum assured.”
Using tech for a simpler, easier, and more efficient life insurance journey
For Discovery Life, underwriting remains one of the insurer’s key focus areas when it comes to digitisation and leveraging technology. “We’re continually exploring ways to make underwriting more efficient and as frictionless as possible,” says Van Reenen.
“Along with underwriting, we want to make the entire life insurance journey simpler, easier, and more efficient for our clients, underwriters and brokers, and our business. Discovery Life’s shared-value model positions us uniquely to use digitisation and emerging tech to do this, for the benefit of our clients and broader industry. This is just the beginning – watch this space.”