Webinar series - Protection, Health and Care Conference 2020

12.00 - 13.00: CMI Update

An update from the Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) with content focused on the work of the Assurances Committee and the Income Protection Committee.

Speakers: Duncan Heald and Hamish Wilson, CMI

If you missed the webinar, a recording is available to purchase.

12.00 - 13.00: Mental resilience and predicting return to work in disability claims

A prospective research study - the first to look at an insured population sample - designed to test whether psychosocial factors predict return to work in disability claims.

Speaker: Stephanie McCahon and Nisha Price, Swiss Re

12.00 - 13.00: Around the World in 80 claims: Results of Global IP Claims survey

In this session we will present the results of an international survey of claims assessors. Bringing out key similarities and differences in claims practices in different locations and their impact on the management of disability claims. 

Speakers: Clio Lawrence and Mary Enslin, Gen Re

13.00 - 14.00: Building a Shiny Death Toolbox

An overview of how and why we built a Death Toolbox using Shiny.  This includes a live demonstration of the tool that enables a user to explore mortality datasets without knowing specialist coding techniques.

Speakers: Chris Reynolds and Florian Gomez, Partner Re 

14.00 - 15.00: Impactability Modelling for Population Health Management

Population Health Management considers the distribution of health outcomes within a population and how to impact these outcomes in the most optimal way for the group as a whole. The initial report of the Working Party focusses on the specific topic of impactability modelling, an area where actuarial skills can help bring insight to some of the strategic challenges the NHS and other health systems are facing. This session will provide an overview of the working party's research including defining impactability and impactability modelling, discussing some examples of specific modelling approaches, considering the practical challenges across the NHS as well as wider public perception and ethical issues.

Speakers: Alpesh Shah, PwC and David Beddows, Optum

15.00 - 16.00: Dementia and insurance: cognitive protection

With the rising prevalence of dementia, how can we manage this risk effectively and can insurance do more?

In 2025, the number of people living with dementia in the UK will pass one million. But yet incidence has fallen at all ages in recent years. How well do we understand the diseases which cause dementia? Can we predict who might develop dementia? What is technology's role? Matt Singleton, Ageing Lead at Swiss Re, will cover these topics and how insurance could help people address their concerns.

Speaker: Matthew Singleton, Swiss Re

10.00 - 11.00: Mental Health Underwriting - updating for current medical practice

Traditional approaches to mental health underwriting are based on historic data and medical practices.  These practices have moved on significantly, impacting on how we interpret historic data and the impact on future mortality and morbidity.  

This session will cover how we have challenged conventional approaches to underwriting and risk selection to develop an approach that aligns current practices, customer and broader interests with robust risk assessment.

Speaker: Scott Cadger, Lloyds Banking Group 

10.00 - 11.00: Engagement and innovation for the next generation consumer

Using new and unique research and data from the UK, US, Sweden and China,  this presentation investigates how consumers use the internet through their insurance journey and analyzes the role culture and generation plays in their online behaviour. We use this research to show the online landscape for insurance sales in the UK and suggest ways to shape new products and effectively engage with the consumer who is buying them.

Speakers: Chloe Gilbert, Swiss Re and Sophia Steinmetz

10.00 - 11.00: Gene Modification

CMO Dr O'Brien will discuss the impacts of Gene Modification for life/health insurance. 

Affordable gene sequencing and initiatives such as the 100 000 genome project, have provided information on genetic links to many diseases. Precise gene abnormalities for previously described genetic diseases can now be identified. This identification can facilitate avoidance of these conditions by pre-implantation diagnosis. The next step is to see how these genes can be manipulated to correct the abnormalities. Exciting techniques such as CRISPR and viral vectors show promise in treating some serious and devastating diseases. The ability to change genes does however predictably pose ethical dilemmas

Speaker: Dr John O’Brien, Gen Re

15.00 - 16.00: Cancer morbidity risk modelling – regional variation over time 

Modelling the structure and trends of cancer morbidity risk is important for pricing and reserving in related health insurance fields such as critical illness insurance and care provision. We model the dynamics of cancer incidence over time in different regions in England, using 1981-2016 ONS data. The modelling allows estimation of cancer rates at various age, year, gender and region levels, following a Bayesian setting to account for statistical uncertainty. Our analysis indicates significant regional variation in cancer incidence rates. 

Speaker: George Streftaris, Heriot-Watt University

15.00 - 16.00 - Learnings from our first climate-change related disclosures (TCFD)

The PRA have made clear their expectation that climate change will be mainstreamed in insurance businesses’ risk frameworks. The first step in this journey is to measure exposure to climate changes’ many aspects and disclose them – even if only internally!

In this talk we will outline the steps Aviva took in pulling together our first large-scale disclosures on the exposure of our business to climate change published in March 2019; in line with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. After touching on why insurers have such an important role in climate change, we'll cover a brief “how-to” guide for those who have not yet embarked on thinking about these topics before giving a case study of how the learnings from a TCFD disclosure exercise can be applied to investment portfolios.

Speaker: Russ Bowdrey, Aviva

12.00 - 13.00: Can we manage Diabetes risk for healthier outcomes

The insurance industry currently underwrites customers with diabetes based on a range of factors, medical expertise and various medical studies. The work undertaken by the WP would help the industry to approach this using current research findings to update and enhance how potential risk from diabetes is considered. This includes the need to understand the underwriting implications as treatments improve, and potentially to develop new products that are tailored to those with diabetes. The WP will present our latest findings in the management of this important chronic condition which will include research in collaboration with the ARC. 

Speakers: Scott Reid, Zurich and Nicola Oliver, Medical Intelligence