With all eyes on life insurance during this Life Insurance Awareness Month, we thought it was a good idea to check in on one of the industry’s most innovative life insurance programs--the John Hancock Vitality Program.

Launched last year, the program allows policyholders to connect their long-term health to their financial well-being by providing savings and rewards to those who complete health-related activities like exercising, getting an annual health screening, or receiving a flu shot.

Then in April, the company expanded the program by adding the HealthyFood Program. Under this program, policyholders can earn rewards for the healthy food choices they make every day with real-time discounts and/or cash-back of up to $600 a year on their grocery bills. They can also earn program points that lead to savings on their annual premiums, by as much as 15 percent.

So far, the program has been well received. As noted by Brooks Tingle, senior vice president of marketing and strategy at John Hancock Insurance, “Since we launched John Hancock life insurance with Vitality last year, we’ve seen extremely high levels of interest among buyers - from those just getting married or having families, to retirees.  And we are seeing unprecedented levels of engagement among our customers. “We’ve also had a strong response from producers, who are recognizing the consumer demand for product innovations like this.”

While many life insurance discussions are prompted by major life events – like getting married, having kids or planning and settling into retirement – John Hancock life insurance with Vitality moves beyond the milestones to encourage policyholders to take small steps toward living a healthy life every day and reward them for their healthy choices, Tingle says. “At every life stage, this innovative product changes the conversations financial advisors have with their clients about life insurance. Those discussions now center on living well today (and getting rewarded for that) while planning for the future, rather than focusing on what happens at the end of life,”  he adds.

Check out the two videos below to see how the John Hancock Vitality Program is changing the way consumers are thinking about life insurance--and encouraging them to buy the protection they need for themselves and their loved ones.

Ayo Mseka
Editor-in-Chief