Growth in chronic diseases, particularly type 2 diabetes, is one of the emerging trends that helped drive Dr Karan Mehta to create Bluezone, a life insurance provider for a very specific fast-growing market.
“The prevalence of chronic conditions is skyrocketing,” Mehta told Health & Protection in an interview at Bluezone’s headquarters in Canary Wharf, London.
“But the number of insurance products sold to these populations is flat. It doesn’t reflect that trajectory,” he added.
The number of insurance products for people with chronic conditions may be limited, but it turned out that demand for those products was high.
Meanwhile, the average age of a Bluezone customer is largely based on the average age that people find out about their diabetes.
“The average age of an interested customer lead is around 50 years,” Mehta explained. “That’s close to the average onset of when someone is diagnosed with diabetes, which happens between the ages of 45 and 50.”
Global expansion
While Bluezone is centred on the local market at this point, the insurer is looking beyond the UK for growth, with potential markets including the US, India, and China.
The Bluezone philosophy is based on the term “Blue Zones,” which describes regions of the world where people live significantly longer than average.
Currently, there are five such Blue Zones around the world: Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Ikaria (Greece), and Loma Linda (California).
Bluezone notes: “Residents of these regions have produced the highest number of centenarians, suffer a low prevalence of chronic lifestyle diseases, and live more years of good health.”
“When the lives of the people in the Blue Zones were analysed, it was found that their secret to longevity was due to a lifestyle that made healthy choices easy,” they add.
“Some of these choices include moderate caloric intake, regular physical activity, stress reduction, engagement in social life, and life purpose. The secret boils down to a simple explanation: our bodies have a remarkable capacity for healing themselves as long as we support them with the right factors.”
Application process
The application process for Bluezone takes less than 10 minutes, including providing details about your diabetes status and any medications you are taking.
At the end, the applicant receives a quote based on the policy’s length and can pay for it immediately.
There is an option to get online help if needed.
But if the applicant stalls during the process, they might receive a phone call from a human representative, perhaps even the founder, to address any issues or answer questions.
No worries
As a new and entrepreneurial company, some customers may wonder about the safety of their investment if the company ceases to exist after a few years, as many start-ups do.
However, Mehta assures customers that the company has “solid partnerships with bigger players.”
“The policy would still continue with our insurance partners, so you don’t have to worry about the policy cancelling or not receiving claim,” he explains.
He adds: “Obviously, we don’t have to worry about that as Bluezone will be around and will be bigger, better, and more impactful.”