Cancer remains a major driver of life and health insurance claims, but recent research has revealed risk patterns with significant implications for the industry.
Swiss Re’s Cancer Epidemiology: New Trends and Risks, and What They Mean for Insurance noted that ageing populations around the world are expected to drive up overall cancer incidence and mortality, even without worsening lifestyle risk factors. By 2040, most new cancer diagnoses and deaths will occur among people aged 60 and above. At the same time, improvements in early detection and treatments mean more people are being diagnosed with cancer, extending the period during which they may require medical care and financial support.
The study also highlighted the rise of early-onset cancers, where diseases that historically appeared later in life are increasingly affecting adults under 50. This trend is partly due to better awareness and screening, but factors such as obesity, poor diet and other metabolic risks also contribute. For insurers, earlier onset of cancer means that risk spans decades rather than just the later years of life, potentially increasing lifetime claims and altering long-term risk projections.
For life and health insurers, these developments pose a significant challenge. Traditional models for underwriting, pricing and reserving have been based on long-standing patterns of age at diagnosis, survivorship and severity. As cancer incidence spreads across a wider age range and more individuals live with the disease long-term, these models may no longer be adequate. The study urges insurers to reimagine their risk frameworks by adopting a more dynamic approach to product design and factoring in longer durations of care and monitoring when setting premiums and terms.
Cancer incidence is also rising in emerging markets as lifestyles change and detection improves, adding further complexity to global risk portfolios. A small group of cancers, including lung, breast and colorectal, still accounts for the majority of cases and deaths, but this balance may shift, requiring insurers to continually monitor demographic and epidemiological trends. These developments underscore the need for flexibility in insurance products and claims strategies.
In response, the industry has increasingly focused on integrating these insights into underwriting and pricing, investing in advanced data analytics and developing products that reflect the reality of cancer as a long-term, managed condition rather than a single event.