VitalityLife has announced two new developments for the protection market: Vitality Nurse and Wellness Optimiser.
Vitality Nurse is the company’s own range of medical screening and nurse services whose sole purpose is to improve the underwriting process. It will offer an instant booking service for medical underwriting requirements with real time results from VitalityLife’s bespoke evidence analyser app.
The firm claims Vitality Nurse gives people the convenience of a medical screening by a clinically qualified nurse in the comfort of their own home in as little as two hours from the time of application submission. The service is available six days a week.
VitalityLife will also launch a new Wellness Optimiser product, which offers customers an upfront discount and annual premium discounts if they take the right steps to monitor their health. Members will receive a discount of up to 40% for term cover and up to 60% for whole of life, compared to standard premiums. Future premiums can then change annually depending on their Vitality status, which will be determined by the results of ongoing health checks.
Members will be encouraged to complete a biennial health check, which will be available at a discounted price of £10 for the first two years. Factors including BMI, blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol will be measured and any improvements to their health during the two-year period will be reflected in their premiums. Depending on the member’s annual status, premiums can either remain the same, increase by up to 4% or reduce by 1% each year.
The firm acknowledges that people with diabetes or high BMI may find it harder to improve their health on a regular basis. However, it believes the greater awareness provided by the results of the regular health check can be more impactful and could lead to even more significant improvements for their health and expected claim costs. Diabetic members will therefore be offered a larger upfront discount as a greater incentive, of up to 45% for term life cover and up to 65% for Whole of Life cover.
Wellness Optimiser will be available on the VitalityLife Plan, Essentials Plan and Mortgage Plus Plan.
Both developments are underpinned by Vitality’s shared-value insurance model. Shared-value is based on the combination of engaging members and incentivising them to manage their wellness, while dynamically pricing their behaviour into their cover. Members are encouraged to lead a healthier lifestyle through access to Vitality exclusive discounts and rewards – meaning they don’t have to claim to benefit from their insurance.
Herschel Mayers, CEO of VitalityLife, said: “At VitalityLife we are doing all we can to provide the cover people need, while also rewarding them for improving their health. We want to make it easier for people to get cover, which is why we have launched our unique Vitality Nurse service to enable customers to have a medical screening wherever is convenient for them.
“Traditional underwriting is typically performed at the application stage and records a number of key factors that can often change or improve over the lifetime of the policy. However, until now there has not been a specific approach to monitoring these factors on an ongoing basis in the market. Through our revolutionary Wellness Optimiser product, we are expanding our offering and encouraging members to have a biennial health check where specified clinical measures will be taken and used to adjust their future premiums.
“Both these fantastic innovations have been developed to make it simpler for people to get protected, while at the same time encouraging them to live a healthy life and rewarding them for doing so.”