As the world begins to re-emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, extended periods of lockdown, working from home and limited travel have had a profound impact on how people live, and will continue to live, for some time to come, says Peter Gibbons, global head of individual and small group business at Allianz Partners, Health. 

The way we work has undergone a complete transformation. These changes are likely to stay, with hybrid working and increased flexibility for employees, a largely positive result from the pandemic. 

All this change has had a knock-on effect for the international healthcare industry, in terms of how people want to manage their healthcare and access health services. As an insurer dealing primarily with expats and globally mobile workforces, there's several key trends we believe will impact the industry for the months and years ahead.

1.    There has been a definite swing in consumer buying behaviour

People are more aware of the importance of proactively managing their health following the pandemic and they have more clarity in terms of what health services are important to them. This has resulted in customers being more decisive than ever when it comes to knowing what they want from their health cover.

People are less interested in taking a product off the shelf. Instead, they want a more modular solution designed to meet the specific needs of their family. They want to make sure the insurance product they buy is relevant for their life stage. It needs to be specifically tailored to ensure they have the cover they need, for the age they, and their dependants, are at.

We're also seeing more and more people seeking to move away from the traditional 12-month period of policy cover. From speaking to our brokers, it's clear that many people are at a crossroads.

For some, that means assessing whether they actually need to invest in full healthcare coverage at this particular point in their life, or if they would be better off investing more heavily in cover for critical illness.

This kind of consideration usually depends on the level of healthcare available in the destination country in question.

For example, those living in the UK can avail of free public healthcare but may want to ensure they can access the top hospitals in the event they develop an illness like cancer. This shift reduces the cost of insurance for the individual, while still providing them with an enhanced level of cover should any serious illness arise. 

2.    Leveraging health cover to proactively manage mental health and mental fitness is a top priority

The implications of the pandemic have had a huge impact on our mental health. According to global research Allianz Partners conducted with Ipsos MRBI, over a third of employees claim to have experienced poor mental health since the pandemic began.

This has been reflected in the nature of enquiries coming into our brokers, who have reported an increase in demand for access to mental health resources as part of international health insurance plans. 

Traditionally, mental health resources were an add on to health insurance, which many people did not avail of.

However, over the last number of months mental fitness has become a priority. In general, around 6 in 10 employees surveyed in our research believe people will be more comfortable talking about mental health in the future.

As more people avail of mental health services and position their mental fitness as a top priority, we're committed to ensuring that access to mental health resources is central to our offering. 

3.    The explosion of digital nomads 

The working world has changed, and the international health insurance industry needs to keep up with those changes. The past two years have empowered a generation to be brave and make drastic decisions when it comes to their working life.

The ability to work from home means employees can technically work from anywhere in the world. Whilst a company may be based in London, its employees could be working remotely from hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

Lots of people are taking advantage of this freedom and there's a definite trend emerging of people moving around the world as they work, for example spending three months in Dubai followed by three months in Singapore. 

This is the most interesting trend because as these people are moving from country to country, they're also moving around different regulatory environments, so that's a challenge for us as insurers.

We've been able to offer short-term products to these individuals, ensuring they're covered for stints in various countries 

However, working from remote locations is still an emerging trend, so the question is what happens to these people in the long-term. That's something we'll be watching closely.

In addition to these trends, the regulatory environment is also in flux, with many countries tightening up regulations regarding the capturing of personal data, in order to prevent data from being exported to other countries. This is already the case in China and is now making its way to other regions, such as Dubai. As governments become stricter on data across the world, how insurance providers manage this will be interesting. 

As the world continues to adapt to the ‘new normal', insurance providers need to continually adapt to ensure they are meeting the ever-evolving needs of customers globally.

With new ways of working here to stay, employees are more empowered and more decisive than ever before. The past two years has also shown companies that, thanks to digital technology and the advancements in this area, communicating across the globe is now easier than ever. As an industry we need to take all of these learnings onboard and integrate this new way of working and thinking into how we deliver our services. 

By Peter Gibbons, Global Head of Individual and Small Group Business at Allianz Partners, Health