Premium Leveller benefit Qorus Innovation in Insurance Awards 2020

With accelerating advancements in medical technology and an increased focus on health, Discovery Life policyholders are living longer, more productive lives. While increased life expectancy is positive, Japan is a good case study of the difficulties involved with an aging population who face significant insurance risks and funding difficulties in retirement. Therefore, older clients may struggle to afford policy premiums at a time, it could be argued, they need their cover most. In the South African market, retired clients must often fund policies with pensions benefits that grow far slower than their life policy premium increases. Discovery recognises the need for affordable cover in retirement, and through health and wellness management, measured by Discovery’s Vitality program, clients can now control their future premium sustainability. The Premium Leveller benefit has two components. First, clients can reduce premiums in retirement (age 65 onwards) by up to 40%, based on their Vitality status pre- and post-retirement. Second, they can lock in a discount of up to 10% at retirement (age 65), based on their health status at that time. Considering the aforementioned increased longevity of our clients, this provides true sustainability and improved needs-matching throughout retirement. The Premium Leveller benefit is free to all policyholders, with upside potential only. While some insurers in our market have funding patterns that incorporate client constraints in retirement, they use prefunding through higher premiums at earlier durations. On the contrary, we reward clients for healthy behaviours and give them the ability to control their future premium increases.