The Problem with Insurance Is That It’s Insurance

Insurance should be one of the most powerful tools for building resilience — for individuals, businesses, and economies alike.

But too often, it isn’t.

Not because people don’t care about risk. Not because the threats aren’t real. But because the product of insurance — the way it’s designed, delivered, and discussed — hasn’t evolved to meet modern expectations.

The problem with insurance… is that it’s still insurance.

For many, it feels outdated, transactional, and disconnected from the real-world risks they face. It’s something you buy because you have to, not because it feels useful. And even when it is useful, that value is often hidden behind complexity, exclusions, or mistrust.

It has a timing problem

Insurance is typically sold after something happens to someone else. It enters the conversation too late — once fear sets in, or once it’s required. By then, the focus is on cost, not clarity. On limits, not logic.

It has a perception problem

People often see insurance as a tax — a cost with fine print and caveats. It’s distrusted, not because it’s useless, but because it’s unfamiliar, opaque, and rarely explained in human terms.

It has a design problem

Most products still rely on rigid wordings, exclusions, and legacy definitions. They don’t reflect the lived experience of risk in a fast-changing world. Wordings remain static in an environment where threats are dynamic.

It has a trust problem

Poor claims experiences, unclear wordings, and inconsistent communication have eroded trust. Many buyers don’t believe insurance will work for them — and in some cases, they’re right. Trust must be rebuilt, not assumed.

It has a distribution problem

The longer the value chain — from reinsurer to broker to end client — the harder it is for the insured to see where value lives. The product gets diluted, the insight disappears, and the relationship becomes transactional.

And it has an emotional problem

Insurance is the only product people buy hoping they’ll never use. That mindset is fine in stable environments — but in today’s world, risk is constant. What people need isn’t a promise of protection buried in legalese. It’s tools they can use, insight they can trust, and support they can feel.

So maybe the issue isn’t that people don’t want insurance — it’s that they don’t want this version of insurance.

What if we positioned insurance not just as protection, but as a strategic tool — one that helps businesses anticipate disruption, allocate resources more intelligently, and evolve with confidence?

We need to move from selling cover to delivering resilience. That means rethinking the format entirely:

• Insurance bundled with live risk data and scenario tools

• Pay-as-you-go or parametric models that feel intuitive and relevant

• Platforms that visualise exposure and guide decision-making

• Embedded coverage offered as part of daily life or business operations

• Human-centred storytelling and education — not just technical documents

The future of risk protection isn’t a product — it’s a system. A service. A strategy. Something that works before the crisis hits, not just after.

At Resilient Frontiers, we believe the market’s biggest challenge isn’t how to price risk — it’s how to make protection feel real, relevant, and usable.

Because the problem with insurance… is that it’s still insurance.

Stay Resilient