Industry Insights: Critical Illness By Heather & Trevor Garbers
October is National Critical Illness Awareness Month, meant to help spread information about critical illness prevention, treatment, and care. Consider the following: According to KFF, the average single health insurance deductible was $1,992 and family was $3,811 in 2022 55% of employees live paycheck to paycheck in the USA today 57% of Americans don’t have enough in savings to cover a $1,000 emergency expense A little over 1.9 million new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in the US in 2023 (excluding: basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers, and carcinoma in situ (noninvasive cancer) except for urinary bladder The human side of our industry, is that we play a key role in spreading information about coverages that can help individuals pay for treatment and care when diagnosed with a critical illness. To help us do that job well, staying ahead of market trends is always important. This month, we have interviewed: Heather Scott with Trustmark Voluntary Benefits, Matthew Ennis with Reliance Matrix, Sarah Oliver with Prudential Financial, and Bryan Burke with Sun Life for their insights on workplace based Critical Illness insurance today.
What is trending in the Critical Illness market today? Matthew: This is a multi-faceted question, on the product side, we are seeing more interest in mental health and benefits that appeal to different demographics. For younger employees, benefits for infertility and expanded childhood conditions including autism spectrum disorder are becoming more of a focus. Better coverage for underrepresented populations is also being prioritized by carriers (adult diabetes, more comprehensive breast cancer coverage for example). On the customer experience side, services at time of claim are becoming more prevalent. More carriers are offering services related to mental health, healthcare navigation, caregiving and financial wellness to name a few. Lastly, in terms of process, claims integration continues to evolve to the point where most carriers are doing some type of claims integration on the CI product. Sarah: One of the overarching trends in the Critical Illness insurance space today is expanding coverage provisions to better meet the needs of policyholders and their families. Carriers are working quickly to understand historical trends, recent medical insights and associated financial gaps for working people. This has raised the need to expand what these plans can do to provide value to people experiencing mental wellness concerns or family planning. Understanding medical trends and related financial gaps gives carriers the opportunity to provide more value by expanding their products to cover more and provide a more robust solution.
