How can the insurance and protection industry better engage younger generations? As cancer rates continue to rise among working-age adults and many remain underinsured, there is a growing need to rethink how advisers, insurers and employers communicate the value of protection. In this article, Russell Young, Commercial Director at Reframe Cancer, explores why combining financial and health education could be the key to improving awareness and resilience among younger audiences.
The insurance and protection sector has a critical role in improving awareness and understanding of protection among younger generations. As the interim findings of the FCA Pure Protection Market Study found, 58% of UK adults do not hold a pure protection product even though many could benefit from them.
This is concerning, and I don’t believe the reality of what this stat shows has really hit home. It highlights not only a lack of financial protection if serious illness strikes, but also a lack of understanding about why products such as income protection and critical illness cover matter.
So while it’s worrying, it’s perhaps not surprising that younger generations remain at greater risk of being underinsured.
The need to improve awareness and understanding of the importance of protection comes at a time when cancer rates in younger working age adults are also rising. In the UK, there are around 2,400 new cancer cases a year in 15–24-year-olds, and cancer rates in 25–49-year-olds have risen by 24% since 1995.
Yet most of these figures and statistics can be significantly reduced through education, prevention and greater access to cancer screening.
Reaching younger audiences
Part of the challenge is that protection often feels irrelevant to younger generations. Many are focused on immediate financial pressures, while serious illness and long-term absence are still seen as risks that affect older people.
Yet we know cancer incidence among younger adults is rising, and a diagnosis can have a significant impact on income, employment and financial wellbeing regardless of age. Closing this awareness gap is one of the biggest opportunities facing the protection sector.
If we want to reach younger audiences, we need to meet them where they’re at. They aren’t engaging with traditional health messaging. Social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are no longer just entertainment channels; they are information platforms where they get their news and seek opinions.
Research finds that, in comparison with other generations, Gen Z (16- 25-year-olds) represent the most active adopters of AI and social media for health guidance; 34% turn to ChatGPT and 30% use TikTok.
However, misinformation is rife; especially when it comes to cancer. Research finds that ChatGPT can provide outdated or inaccurate information. And myths and falsehoods abound on social media.
Financial and health education
Advisers are uniquely placed to become translators between financial protection and health protection. There seems a strong role here for advisers to direct attention towards trusted sources of information from credible providers, combining health and financial education in the process, because the two are completely interrelated.
Discussions about the importance of protection are also central to this.
We speak to advisers who go into workplaces and hold financial planning sessions with employees. When the conversation turns to protection, the reality is a lot of younger employees don’t know what protection they have in place, if any at all, through their work policies, because until you need it you don’t necessarily know the details.
If they don’t have the right employer-provided policies, this opens up the conversation to individual IP and CI and ‘have you thought about how you would cover your outgoings if you ever got ill and couldn’t work?’
We know from advisers that these conversations are beneficial and effective, but employers need to facilitate more of them so more younger people can be reached, and awareness and understanding of what is out there can improve.
In terms of health education, many younger people do not know what the early symptoms or warning signs are to look out for. Early detection is one of the few interventions that simultaneously saves lives, delivers better outcomes and reduces long-term costs.
Awareness and regular screening encourage individuals to monitor their own health and ensure any symptoms are picked up and reported quickly. The NHS cancer service does a great job but faces challenges and is under significant pressure to meet the three key standards set – 28-day faster diagnosis, 62-day referral to treatment and the 31-day decision to treat cancer.
The age factor in relation to screening is one of rising concern. Incidence is trending younger, as mentioned earlier, yet often people with concerns or believing they are showing symptoms can be told they are too young to be screened through the NHS and considered lower risk.
This is where employers, advisers and insurers can work together. Education, prevention and awareness are key for educating younger generations on financial and health protection. For employers, an early diagnosis can mean shorter absences, quicker returns to work and reduced group premiums.
CQC-regulated added-value service providers can provide access to cancer screening, navigation, advice and expert help from cancer nurse specialists, helping younger generations become more protected and experience better outcomes.
The industry cannot afford to wait until younger generations become older generations before engaging them in protection conversations. By then, the opportunity has been missed. The future of protection lies in combining financial resilience with health resilience, and the advisers, insurers and employers who recognise that first will be the ones who make the greatest difference.
