Why Insurers Are Betting Big on Prevention to Stay Afloat

Alejandro Martínez · 2026-10-24

France FinTech recently brought together insurance leaders at Les Furets, in partnership with Oliver Wyman, for a deep dive into what's become a make-or-break issue for the industry: prevention. The room was packed with insurers, assurtechs, and fintechs, all grappling with the same question: how do you keep insurance sustainable when risks—health, climate, auto—keep intensifying? The answer, it turns out, isn't just about pricing better or collecting more data. It's about stopping bad things from happening in the first place. And that shift changes everything. ### Prevention: The New Frontier of Insurability Jérémie Viscuso, Partner at Oliver Wyman, kicked off the morning with a keynote on the tensions squeezing the insurance model. His message was blunt: insurers have gotten really good at measuring risk—sophisticated models, tons of data, sharp claims tools—but they still can't reduce it at scale. And that's a problem. "The best claim is the one that never happens," Viscuso said. But making that happen means rethinking the insurer-insured relationship. Instead of just paying out after a disaster, insurers need to be present in their customers' daily lives, helping them lower their exposure and keep premiums affordable. That's easier said than done. Most insurers don't interact with clients every day. So they're teaming up with partners who are on the ground—service companies, maintenance providers, anyone who can intervene close to where risks actually occur. Technology, especially AI, can help personalize recommendations (a baker's risks aren't a locksmith's, and neither are a homeowner's in a flood zone). But AI doesn't replace human trust. When it comes to understanding a risk or motivating behavior change, expertise and relationships still matter. > "Prevention only works if it's consistent, personalized, measurable, and genuinely useful to the insured." ### Health: From Reimbursement to Continuous Support Fabrice Staad, CEO of Alan France, showed what this looks like in health insurance. Alan's model is an integrated platform that combines prevention, coverage, and access to health services. The goal? Reduce fragmentation and give members a single entry point for all their health questions. This addresses two big issues: - **Sanitary:** Access to care is unequal, and some pathways are long and complex. - **Economic:** Rising health costs weigh on companies and employees. By focusing on prevention, Alan aims to improve outcomes and control costs. It's a shift from reactive reimbursement to proactive support—and it's catching on. ### The Bottom Line Prevention isn't just a nice-to-have anymore. It's a condition for keeping insurance viable. And as risks grow, the industry is waking up to the fact that the best way to manage them is to stop them from happening. That's a message that resonates far beyond Europe—it's a global shift in how we think about risk, protection, and the role of insurance in society.