AI-driven health prompts to Discovery Life clients are boosting the numbers of preventative screenings while lowering their costs of cover, reports Business Day.
The tool also accelerates detection of serious illness, including cancer, said Discovery Life, a subsidiary life insurer Discovery and which use incentives to encourage healthy behaviour through its Vitality programme.
Discovery has invested in a global partnership with Google that uses AI to provide people with personalised recommendations to improve their health and lower the cost of cover.
It encourages clients to sign up for its “personalised payback booster”, which rewards them for completing AI-driven recommendations through Discovery Health’s “personalised health pathways” feature, launched last year. These recommendations are individually tailored and range from a nudge to go for a run or check their cholesterol to a reminder to undergo a colonoscopy.
During 2025, a total of 14 775 Discovery Life clients were prompted to undergo more than 18 000 screenings, of which almost 9 500 were for cancer.
These screenings led to 47 severe illness claims, of which 32 were for cancer diagnoses that were picked up early, at stage 1 or stage 2. The health screenings also identified 12 heart and artery conditions that needed treatment.
Many cancers – such as those of the breast, colon, and prostate – have a much better prognosis and lower treatment costs if they are diagnosed early.
“It’s a really powerful use of AI, one we are excited about,” said Discovery Life deputy CEO Gareth Friedlander.
While many corporates were deploying AI to boost operational efficiency, Discovery Life was also using it to reduce clients’ risk of potentially life-threatening illness, he said.
Last year, Discovery Life had 523 000 lives under cover, up 5.7% from the 495 000 lives covered the year before. It paid out R11.5bn in claims in 2025, a figure in line with total claims paid in 2024. Almost two-thirds (65%) of the individual life policy payouts were for living benefits (illness, disability and income loss) and shared value payments, which reward clients for managing their health and wellness.
A total of R6.9bn was paid out in individual life insurance claims, R2.4bn in shared value rewards, and R2.2bn in group risk claims.
Cancer continued to be a key driver of claims, accounting for 45% of severe illness benefits, 37% of capital disability benefit claims, 27% of life cover claims, and 11% of income continuation benefits.
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