What Covid-19 has taught Discovery Life
Gareth Friedlander, the 34-year-old deputy CEO of Discovery Life, has spent his career with the group after qualifying as an actuary in 2009.
His appointment this year, along with new CEO Riaan van Reenen, follows a reorganisation in which Discovery Life’s previous CEO, Hylton Kallner, was appointed group CEO for Discovery SA.
We spoke to Friedlander after the release of the Discovery Life Claims Insights report for 2019, which provides a snapshot of claims made by the division’s 400,000 policyholders in 2019, for which Discovery paid out R4.8bn. Friedlander also provided insight into trends since the onset of the pandemic.
What have you learnt about Covid-19 that you did not understand before it arrived?
Initially it looked as if it was predominantly a respiratory ailment. But we see now that it is a vascular disease and that it presents in severe manifestations in multiple organs and body systems.
This recognition exposed a gap in the way dread-disease cover was provided, which was traditionally predicated on a siloed approach whereby chronic and permanent damage to a particular organ must be established for benefits to be paid. We still know little about the long-term impacts of Covid19, but as a direct result of observations thus far we subsequently introduced the new multi-organ benefit that covers acute injury to multiple body systems or organs such that the overall impact to the client’s health is considered and not just the narrow view of a single organ.
What have you learnt thus far from claims relating to Covid-19?
From a relatively small pool of claims — about 100 — 65% are from health-care professionals, which demonstrates how they are bearing the brunt of their increased exposure to the virus, which is, of course, sad. They are doing an incredible job for society, but unfortunately many of them have been severely impacted themselves.
Why do you think Covid-19 has validated Discovery’s Vitality model?
We have always known that Vitality and lifestyle change works in noncommunicable diseases, but we didn’t know how well it would work with Covid-19 as an infectious disease. The data shows that our clients are significantly less impacted by Covid-19 if they are living healthy lifestyles. A 60year-old with high physical activity levels has similar risk to a 40-year-old that does not exercise when it comes to the probability of being admitted to hospital after being diagnosed with the disease.
On a slightly more positive note, the country appears to be heading in the right direction in respect of new infections?
There are encouraging signs. It looks as if the Western Cape is moving in the right direction where we are seeing more recoveries than diagnoses, and even Gauteng has begun to stabilise. So early signs are encouraging that we are beginning to flatten out and thus far it looks as if the health-care system has coped admirably.
One of the most disturbing trends in your insight report is the continued increase in suicides for people under the age of 30, which after motorvehicle accidents is the leading cause of death.
It is not just young people. We are seeing an increase in suicides year on year across the age spectrum, and those numbers predate the arrival of Covid-19. You ask any medical professional and they will express concern about the mental health aspect of the lockdown. So it is something we are really focusing on because we understand that mental wellness is as important as physical wellness.
You also found that breast cancer is still a significant risk for women of all ages?
Yes, it is staggering. Half of the severe illnesses presented in women are a form of cancer, and between the ages of 30 to 60 as many as half of diagnosed cancer cases relate specifically to breast cancer.
I hear of a story every other day of someone that has gone for a check or a screening to earn their Vitality points and they pick up a lump. With most types of cancer, the earlier you detect it the better your outcomes and your probability of remission.
IT LOOKS AS IF THE WESTERN CAPE IS MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION WHERE WE ARE SEEING MORE RECOVERIES THAN DIAGNOSES
WE ARE SEEING AN INCREASE IN SUICIDES YEAR ON YEAR ACROSS THE AGE SPECTRUM, AND THOSE NUMBERS PREDATE ... COVID-19