TAL’s Dr Sally Phillips emphasises the value of preventative health measures in this article. Her message reflects the evolving nature of life company narratives in 2020, which extend well beyond simply insuring a policy holder and issuing annual renewal notices. Rather, it’s more a shared journey, which also addresses health, lifestyle and healthy living…
At present, Australians are spending well over $180 billion annually on healthcare and only 1.34% of that amount – or just over $2 billion annually – is spent on reducing health risks and preventing conditions each year[i].
Preventative health plays an important role in people’s overall wellbeing, and the rising rate of preventable conditions means the value of prevention programs in enhancing the wellbeing of Australians is more relevant than ever.
At TAL, we look at health holistically, recognising the inter-connectedness of physical health, mental health and financial health.
There’s an opportunity for financial advisers to partner with clients to drive engagement across all three of these pillars and enhance their clients’ health through preventative strategies.
Research commissioned by TAL validated the societal concern that Australians aren’t engaging with their health. While 45% of Australians believe that having a preventative screening test is extremely important to their overall health, the majority of Australians (71%)[ii] admit to not having had one that they believe is relevant to them.
Through TAL Health Sense, we are aiming to encourage Australians to focus on their own health and embrace prevention to achieve long-term wellbeing.
TAL focuses on three key types of prevention, and each plays its own role in contributing to the future health of all Australians:
- Preventing conditions, or primary prevention – as part of TAL’s Health Sense program, clients with a healthy BMI can obtain discounted premiums for reducing their own health risk;
- Early detection, or secondary prevention – the Health Sense program also enables clients to obtain a discount on premiums by undergoing any of the government-recommended preventative screening tests every 2 years;
- Management of conditions, or tertiary prevention – TAL is working on enabling advisers to cover more clients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes mellitus, and offering premium reductions for good condition management.
By understanding all of these prevention stages, advisers can have important ongoing discussions with clients about their health. This can ensure that their health is taken care of at every stage of their customer journey, not just at the application stage.
Empowering clients to take control of their health and wellbeing is a positive step in cultivating a deeper, more engaging and trusted relationship with them.
Together with our adviser partners, we want to play an active role in helping our customers embrace preventative health.
References
[i] http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/news/health-system-shake-up/
[ii] https://www.tal.com.au/about-us/media-centre/TAL-launches-Health-Sense-Plus-program
Dr Sally Phillips is General Manager – Health Services, TAL
TAL Health Sense is a simple and rewarding program that helps customers take the right health actions and rewards good health across all stages of preventions with discounts on their life insurance premiums linked to screening tests and BMI.
