New life insurance customers to Bluezone will receive £299 worth of health coaching from Gro Health App, in an extension of the benefits offered by the insurer.
“We’re now offering £299 worth of health coaching with the Gro app,” Dr Karan Mehta, founder and CEO of Bluezone Insurance (pictured) told Health & Protection.
The move fits in with one of the main drivers behind the Bluezone promise, which is to help people improve their chronic conditions via health apps, the firm said.
The idea is that a longer relationship with customers than most other types of business will allow Bluezone to have a greater impact on the health of its customers, particularly those with Type 2 diabetes.
Mehta said: “If you buy a policy from Bluezone for 25 years then we can work with you over 25 years to help you improve your behaviour and adopt the right behaviours.
“A lot of behaviour change apps show they can improve the behaviour within three or six months, but what happens two years after that?
“So the benefit of having it delivered by our life insurance policies is that we have this very long term relationship with the customer.”
And Bluezone expects the Gro app to help its customers better manage their condition.
Gro aims to support weight loss and improvements in wellbeing by addressing four main areas, including nutrition, sleep, activity and mental wellbeing.
Mehta said: “With Bluezone coverage, you get this tool that can help you live a healthier life that is proven to help you reduce your weight and your HbAIC.
Artificial intelligence
Bluezone launched in June last year. Customers with Type 2 diabetes are the first of a portfolio of policies aimed at helping people with chronic health conditions in the UK and overseas.
Artificial intelligence was key to that, as Mehta spent years studying and building prediction models with the use of AI for his Phd in health data science.
“My thesis coming into this industry was: if you can understand the risk of something bad happening extremely well – which is what the world of insurance is about – then you have the opportunity to understand which behaviours are changing that risk, and more importantly, which behaviours are reducing that risk.”
“And then you can communicate those behaviours to the customers in a very personalised fashion, which, increases the probability that the customer can adopt those behaviours and reduce risk.”
Product vision
“Ultimately, we want to get to a place where we can accept almost all diabetics and get them coverage.“
But while people with Type 2 diabetes may be the main focus for now, the vision for Bluezone is much wider.
“The product vision for Bluezone is how do we increase the access to insurance for people with not just diabetes but all chronic conditions,“ Mehta said.
“Other chronic conditions include heart disease, high blood pressure, hypertension and people with a high body mass index (BMI).
“The idea is that people with chronic lifestyle conditions are able to do something about it by adopting certain behaviours.
“Customers will be rewarded not just in terms of vouchers or discounts, but also in the price that they pay.“
The second part of Bluezone’s vision grows from the first.
Mehta continued: “Once we have them on as a customer and a policyholder, how do we help them live a healthier happier longer life?
“Because we have them covered for 10 15, 20,or 25 years we have a very long-term relationship to help them change their behaviour.
“Behaviour changes are not something that happens over four weeks or six weeks – it takes a long time to make sure that the behaviours are sustained.“
Direct online application
Bluezone maintained it has also differentiated itself from other life insurance providers by making the application process much simpler for people with Type 2 diabetes, with the online process taking less than 10 minutes.
Other insurers do offer life insurance to some people with diabetes, but the process can be more lengthy, possibly requiring medical records from the applicant’s GP, and possibly entailing medical tests, it adds.
Mehta notes that there are other disadvantages as well, as the applicant may be required to speak to a broker only during working hours, while sharing sensitive medical information.
“And the policy doesn’t provide additional value to the person with diabetes whilst they are a policy holder.” he continues.
Mehta said: “We have customers coming in at two in the morning, or 10 at night. So they can complete the form at their own time on their mobile without having to speak to anyone.“
Another difference is Bluezone’s approach to underwriting and its use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Mehta suggested other insurers “currently don’t use AI machine learning to understand the true risk of an individual“.
Online assistance is available but Mehta noted that someone from the company – possibly even the founder himself – may call during the application if someone is stuck on a particular question.