The impact of COVID-19 on the Canadian Life & Health Insurance industry

Our latest article explores the immediate issues the COVID-19 pandemic poses for Canada’s Life and Health insurance industry, as well as the initial measures organizations can take to mitigate this impact. We analyze the ways the industry’s current trajectory has been disrupted and how insurance organizations have been forced to transform their foundational processes in just a matter of days.

The majority of life and health insurance organizations were in the process of modernizing and digitizing when COVID-19 unexpectedly hit. In this uncertain climate, they must now recalibrate to overcome suddenly exacerbated challenges like constrained capital, a low interest rate environment, manual processes, unengaged customer experience, and cyber risk.

Topics covered in this article:

• Initial challenges and priorities. The immediate issues for life and health insurance organizations range from employee and business continuity to customer service capacity, the ongoing revision of eligibility and coverages, and more. 
• Initial response measures. While the future economic impact of COVID-19 remains uncertain, the life and health industry has the opportunity to glean insights from global markets further into the process of recovery. 
• Moving forward. Could these turbulent times be a turning point that drives transformational change? Only if elevating and delivering improved physical, mental, and financial wellbeing for all Canadians is the driving force in our response.