- Swiss Re is collaborating with leading AI powered mental health platform, Wysa, to create an insurance-specific app.
- The app will help consumers keep a better track of their mental wellbeing and improve links to insurers’ existing support networks, which will enable a “win-win” through early intervention in the claims journey.
- Wysa is working with Swiss Re to build on their successful mental health app – which has 3.5 million users and is rated 4.8/5 on app stores – to create a unique solution to support insurers and their policyholders.
Boston, 11 October 2021 – The World Mental Health Day on 10 October reminds us of a growing consensus to do more to tackle mental health challenges which were accelerated by the COVID-19. According to a new Swiss Re Institute research report, a segment of 45 million consumers across six markets view a future negative mental health event as being highly disruptive and see value in an insurance product covering mental wellbeing. Against this backdrop, Swiss Re has entered an exclusive partnership with leading mental health platform, Wysa, to create an insurance-specific app that helps consumers better track their mental wellbeing and improve links to insurers’ existing support networks, such as therapy providers or Employee Assistance Programmes, which will enable a “win-win” through earlier intervention in the claims journey.
“There’s an estimated USD 15 billion of mental health claims each year in insurers’ disability books around the world. The insurance industry is striving to better understand and prevent mental illness. We’re delighted to be developing this app with Wysa, which will support insurers in their goal of improving both their products and the consumer experience for those looking to stay on top of their mental wellbeing.” said Jolee Crosby, Swiss Re’s Head of L&H Global Core Solutions, Underwriting & MedRe.
With financial backing from Google and other investors, Wysa’s successful existing app has more than 3.5 million users worldwide and has a near-perfect rating of 4.8 out of 5 on public app stores. The app’s AI-guided listening and self-management mental wellbeing support modules are effective for many – especially for areas such as depression, stress, and anxiety, where users are most concerned and where most disability claims arise. Wysa’s app is used and recommended by health bodies such as the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK and Singapore’s Ministry of Health. It is featured by leading mental health charities like Mind (UK) and Mental Health America.
The new app will include improved monitoring and mental health tracking curated pathways to signpost consumers to relevant offline support and better reporting for insurance clients. This is designed to enable “pre-notification of claims” by encouraging policyholders to seek support – through proven techniques in existing insurer ecosystems – before issues become too extreme. Providing improved support opens the opportunity for insurers to make claims savings and increase consumer engagement – especially for disability products. Potential pilot markets include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK.
Ramakant Vempati, Co-founder & President of Wysa explains, “Wysa is very excited about this partnership with Swiss Re as we share a common objective to do more to support people with their mental wellbeing. We are convinced that, based on our existing capabilities and the app’s new components, we are building a unique solution together that integrates scalable, AI-enabled responsive early-stage mental health support into the insurance industry.”
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About Wysa
Wysa is an AI-based mental health platform, which combines AI chat and digital self-help with expert human support to its users directly as well as enable insurers, healthcare providers, employers to offer large-scale self-management of mental wellness to their members, patients, and employees, and a customizable care pathway to more advanced support. With 3.5 million users across more than 60 countries, Wysa is the top-rated app in the NHS and by ORCHA for stress and anxiety, and also ORCHA’s top app to manage anxiety and support self-care during COVID-19. Wysa responds to the emotions that users express and uses evidence-based cognitive-behavioral techniques (CBT), DBT, meditation, breathing, yoga, motivational interviewing, and micro-actions to help build mental resilience skills and feel better.
For more information, please visit https://www.wysa.io/.
Swiss Re
The Swiss Re Group is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, insurance, and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer, working to make the world more resilient. It anticipates and manages risk – from natural catastrophes to climate change, from aging populations to cybercrime. The aim of the Swiss Re Group is to enable society to thrive and progress, creating new opportunities and solutions for its clients. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1863, the Swiss Re Group operates through a network of around 80 offices globally.
