VitalityLife Wellness Optimiser
Wellness Optimiser is a contract with customers that gives them upfront and ongoing discounts in return for meeting health activities.
The process starts with the customer undergoing a two yearly health check-up, for which they pay £10 (a heavily discounted rate). This is undertaken through a partnership with Lloyds Pharmacy and other Vitality partners.
The customer then gets a Wellness Status, which shows their BMI, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose levels.
Engaging in Wellness Optimiser generates an upfront discount on standard office premiums based on their age (whole of life policies, with discounts up to 60%) and the term of the policy (term plans, with longer terms generating the highest 40% discount).
Every two years the customer pays another £10 and undergoes another check. Achieving all four wellness reading targets gives them Select Status; three gives them Healthy status and anything else (including not attending) gives them just Everyday status. This result, linked with their Vitality Status, gives them a further discount of 1% a year if they hit the top targets, although premiums will stay the same or rise (up to 4% a year) if they do not.
The system is adjusted for those with a high BMI or diabetics, offering higher discounts for the best health risks (up to 45% on term and 65% on WOL). Diabetics are also encouraged to attend a health check annually.
Comment: This is another complex service from Vitality and it takes long term protection insurance into what gets dangerously close to being an annually renewable contract along the lines of a PMI policy. It isn’t – VitalityLife’s contacts remain long term contracts but are effectively reviewable much more frequently.
Why would anyone want to do that? Quite simply because the premium discounts are both genuine and significant. Moreover, by encouraging customers to adopt a healthy lifestyle, Vitality is helping them achieve better fitness and wellness too.
Of course, some customers will start enthusiastically and then drop out. But those who persist can continue to enjoy very healthy (sorry about the pun…) discounts and personal health benefits into the bargain.
Clever? Yes. Innovative? Certainly. Unnecessarily complex and cumbersome? For some customers, maybe. For others – well, just look at those discounts…
Plus points: An innovative way to obtain substantial upfront discounts, with the prospect of additional future discounts too; Encourages a healthy lifestyle and keeping to tough health targets.
Not so plus points: Some people will be unable or unwilling to meet the targets; Not every metric is determined by choices so those with underlying health or fitness issues may not be able to benefit (but may well be rated lives without this system anyway); Over-complex?; At some point (albeit many years in the future) some people could end up paying more than they would with more conventional pricing.
Website: http://www.vitalitylife.co.uk.
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 10. Overall: 9. Platinum
Tags: Other; Vitality; Added service