sigma insights 13/2026: Health management service gaps in China

China’s evolving health needs present insurers with an opportunity to move beyond traditional risk compensation towards prevention and lifecycle risk management. Our study identifies key gaps in health management services across the lifecycle. For children and adolescents, the largest gaps are in mental and dental health, as well as myopia prevention; for working-age adults, demand centres on family doctor or health manager services, medication support and continuous management of chronic disease risks. Among the older population, the greatest gaps lie in cognitive screening, fall prevention and chronic disease management. While health management services are now widely available, delivery remains fragmented and largely treatment-focused. Future development will depend on how effectively insurers leverage their long-term customer relationships, risk management expertise and ecosystem coordination capabilities to support prevention-oriented, outcome-focused health management systems, with potential benefits for health outcomes, risk reduction, and long-term customer value.

China's health management needs are rapidly evolving. Population ageing, the growing burden of chronic disease, and weakening family caregiving capacity are shifting demand from disease treatment towards prevention, continuous health management and long-term care. Insurers are well positioned to play a larger role in addressing these needs, with established customer relationships, risk management expertise, and ability to coordinate healthcare resources.

In partnership with Huatai Life, this study assesses health management needs and service gaps across the lifecycle, covering children and adolescents, working-age adults and older populations. The assessment combines public health statistics with findings from Huatai's 2026 consumer survey. The study also reviews health management services currently offered by China's insurers. The full study is available in Chinese.

Health risks differ markedly across the lifecycle. Children and adolescents are primarily affected by mental health and lifestyle-related risks; working-age adults face a growing burden of metabolic and pre-disease risk factors; while the older population experiences overlapping chronic disease, cognitive decline and functional decline. These evolving risk profiles require differentiated health management strategies across the lifecycle.

Top ten health service gaps by age group

_{Note: The health service gap assessment combines public health statistics with consumer survey data to evaluate health service gaps. Four dimensions—demand urgency, service supply, service continuity, and user perception—are weighted and integrated into a composite score ranging from 0 to 10. Higher scores indicate larger service gaps and higher priority for service development. Results are intended for comparative assessment rather than precise measurement.}

_{Source: Huatai Life customer survey, Swiss Re Institute}
 

Across all life stages, we identify greatest service gaps in prevention, continuous health management and coordinated care rather than disease treatment. Addressing these gaps will require more integrated, prevention-oriented health management models that better support changing health needs throughout the lifecycle.

Children and adolescents (0–17 years)

We find significant mental health and lifestyle-related risks—including myopia, overweight and poor sleep—among children and adolescents. As these risks share common behavioural and environmental drivers, they are well suited to early prevention and intervention. However, current services are fragmented, with notable gaps in early screening, continuous monitoring and family-based health management.

Physical and mental health concerns reported by parents

_{Note: The analysis is based on Huatai consumer survey and should not be interpreted as nationally representative of the overall population.}

_{Source: Huatai customer survey, Swiss Re Institute}
 

Working-age adults (18–59 years)

Working-age adults face metabolic risks alongside widespread pre-disease risk factors such as poor sleep, stress and fatigue. This life stage represents a critical window for preventing future chronic disease, yet health management service delivery is fragmented, with limited continuity between health screening, follow-up care and chronic disease management. Our study finds strong demand for integrated family doctor services and long-term health management.

Common health screening findings

_{Note: The analysis is based on Huatai consumer survey and should not be interpreted as nationally representative of the overall population.}

_{Source: Huatai customer survey, Swiss Re Institute}
 

Lifestyle risk factors

_{Note: The analysis is based on Huatai consumer survey and should not be interpreted as nationally representative of the overall population.}

_{Source: Huatai customer survey, Swiss Re Institute}
 

Older population (60+ years)

Health management priorities in the older population shift from disease treatment towards functional maintenance, cognitive health and long-term care. With intertwined chronic disease, cognitive impairment and functional decline, demand extends beyond medical treatment to continuous management and coordinated care. Major service gaps include cognitive screening, fall prevention, chronic disease management, rehabilitation and caregiver support, highlighting the need for more integrated health and care services.

Most concerning health issues

_{Note: The analysis is based on Huatai consumer survey and should not be interpreted as nationally representative of the overall population.}

_{Source: Huatai customer survey, Swiss Re Institute}
 

Health management has become a standard offering across China's life insurance industry, reflecting the industry's transition from traditional value-added services towards integrated "insurance + health management" solutions. However, our study finds that current service models are concentrated on treatment-related services, while prevention, continuous health management and long-term care are comparatively underdeveloped. Service delivery also relies heavily on external healthcare providers, resulting in limited differentiation across insurers and comparatively weak capabilities in prevention and continuous health management.

Many health management services are service-oriented rather than outcome-oriented, with limited continuous intervention, health outcome measurement and value validation. As a result, although health management has become an industry-wide capability, its full potential to improve long-term health outcomes, strengthen customer engagement and deliver meaningful risk reduction has yet to be realised.

Health management service offering among Chinese life insurers (2026)

_{Note: Based on a review of publicly available information from 67 life insurers. The shares reflect the proportion of insurers in the sample that offer each category of service. Service categories follow China's regulatory framework for insurer health management services.}

_{Source: Huatai Life customer survey, Swiss Re Institute}
 

Our research identified crucial gaps between evolving health management needs and the services currently available in China. Closing these gaps may help insurers strengthen customer value, enhance risk management and expand insurability. Stronger prevention, better health outcomes and more effective risk management may also contribute to healthier populations and more sustainable healthcare systems.

The research points to three potential implications for insurers:

1. Stronger long-term customer engagement: Personalised, lifecycle-based and family-oriented services may enable more frequent and meaningful customer interactions beyond traditional policy interactions. Better alignment between health needs and service delivery, supported by behavioural incentives and outcome-oriented services, may strengthen long-term customer relationships and create greater customer value.

2. Better health outcomes and risk reduction: Earlier risk identification, sustained intervention and long-term behaviour change may improve health outcomes, slow disease progression and reduce future claims costs. From an insurance perspective, improved health outcomes may contribute to risk reduction.

3. Expanded insurance boundaries: As China's population ages and the burden of chronic disease continues to rise, stronger health risk management may become increasingly important for expanding insurability. Continuous health monitoring, personalised intervention and better use of health data all have the potential to improve insurers' understanding of evolving health risks, laying the foundation for expanding insurance protection to broader and higher-risk populations.