Alongside representatives of insurance, universities, associations, consumer and data protection organisations and think tanks, the Sanitas foundation has drawn up recommendations for digital responsibility and solidarity in the insurance industry. A contribution to the public debate on ethics in the digital age, a common mission for companies, the government and consumers in Switzerland.
The more digital applications and devices people use, the more personalised data is available, including from self-tracking. This enables increasingly personalised insurance models and behaviour-dependent or risk-based premium calculations, like those already available in the car insurance industry with data provided by tacographs. If these monitoring and tracking models become more widely accepted, this might influence our understanding of values and place indirect pressure on the principle of solidarity in social insurance, health insurance and old-age provisions. The ever increasing number of big data applications has also resulted in questions being asked about differentiation and discrimination in private insurance.
Ongoing digitalisation therefore raises ethical questions about self-determination and solidarity that are complex and affect everyone: the individual, companies as well as politics and the government.
Fairness
Business integrity and the level of risk involved in private insurance and solidarity-based funding of social insurance.
Autonomy
Consumers have the power to make self-determined decisions
Transparency
Information on the storage, use and disclosure of data and how it is taken into account for decisions and recommendations.
Protection of personal privacy
Protection against manipulation, loss, unauthorised disclosure and public exposure of personal data.
Taking responsibility. Strengthening solidarity.
What can insurers do to protect the values of personal privacy, fairness and solidarity? How can the government ensure consumers are informed transparently about their data? How can consumers maintain or strengthen their autonomy? The white paper “Digital responsibility and solidarity in the insurance industry” is written by experts in an interdisciplinary working group initiated by the Sanitas foundation, who provide answers and indicate areas for forward-looking action.