Dr Katie Tryon: Why prevention is better than claim

Given the many health challenges our country faces, prioritising prevention has never been more needed. However, it requires sustainable, long-term behaviour change for it to be truly effective, writes Dr Katie Tryon.

It’s no secret that adopting healthier habits can be difficult.

Even discounting that many diets are dominated by ultra-processed foods and we live increasingly sedentary lifestyles, unconsciously our habits and behaviours also work against us.

According to behavioural economists, many of the things we do are influenced by irrational, cognitive biases.

Ever thought you’d go for a run in the morning but decided you’d rather spend a bit longer in bed? That’s something called ‘present bias’ – our preference for an immediate reward even if we know the more strenuous task will benefit us much more so later down the line.

As human beings, we also tend to be overly optimistic. This means we often underappreciate the impact that unhealthy choices may have on our long-term health. Or we set ambitious goals – like quitting smoking overnight or going to the gym five days a week – but overestimate the likelihood we’re going to stick to them. It’s why those New Year’s resolutions so often fail after a few weeks.

The cost of bad habits

Unfortunately, the choices many people are making today are contributing to our nation’s declining rates of health and wellbeing.

Nearly half (43%) of the health burden in the UK is preventable and 88% of that is down to modifiable lifestyle risks, such as poor exercise and nutrition¹. Poor health is also costing the country billions each year in healthcare spend and economic inactivity. Illnesses related to obesity alone are costing as much as £6.5bn², whilst the cost of lost productive time due to employee absenteeism and presenteeism stands at £138bn annually³.

Our industry isn’t immune from the impact of this either. Health and life insurers traditionally experience it in higher claim costs and increased rates of medical disclosures at underwriting.

The impact of small changes

The good news is that adopting and maintaining healthier habits doesn’t have to be about big, grand gestures; we know how often those fail anyway.

In fact, evidence shows that making small changes can have an enormously significant impact on an individual’s health and are likely to be more sustainable in the long run.

Findings published in the recent Habit Index report highlight that adopting even just simple, healthy habits – such as walking – can add up to three years to our life expectancy when sustained for a period of two years⁴. Meanwhile, those over the age of 65 benefit from a 52% reduction in mortality risk when they sustain a routine of physical activity three or more times a week, for just three years³.

These improvements can lead to big healthcare cost savings as well. If half of the UK’s inactive population did 5,000 steps just three times a week, it could save the NHS as much as £15bn³.

More than just raising awareness

The first step towards meaningfully influencing people’s lifestyle and playing a positive role when it comes to prevention is recognising that awareness alone isn’t enough.

As behavioural economists tell us, sustained behaviour change is hard. Most people are aware of the healthy choices they need to make, they just struggle to stick to them.

We are, however, much more likely to do something if it brings us immediate return. This is where incentives and rewards can come in. Because we are more likely to sustain a habit over time if it correlates with our desire for instant gratification, or if we harness our cognitive biases to work for us and not against.

By lowering health risk through our shared-value approach to insurance, we can return more value to members each year through rewards and partners to keep engagement high and to encourage more people to look after their health - from understanding it through screening to getting more physically active and eating well.

In 2023 alone, our members earned £82m through Vitality partners and those that use the Vitality Programme benefit from over 25% off their annual premiums in additional value through rewards⁴.

By understanding habit formation and harnessing the laws of behavioural economics, we can prioritise prevention in ways that help make people healthier, bring down costs to deliver more sustainable forms of healthcare and unlock better value for consumers. All of this, while also fulfilling our role as an insurer when they need us most. It truly is a win-win for all.

¹ Global Burden of Disease database; Williamson, E., Walker A. J, Bhaskaran K. J, Bacon S., Bates C., Morton C. E, ... & Cockburn J. (2020)
² 'Government plans to tackle obesity in England', Department for Health and Social Care, June 2023
³ Britain's Healthiest Workplace 2023, Vitality
⁴ The Vitality Habit Index, March 2024
⁵ Vitality Health Claims Insights Report, 2024