Insurer MLC launches smartwatch technology to drive discounts for members reaching fitness goals

Insurer MLC is to offer new members the opportunity to save on their life insurance premiums by reaching fitness goals and living a healthier lifestyle.

Using an Intel® Basis Peak fitness and sleep tracker, the Australian-first initiative, the MLC On Track program, will enable members to measure daily physical activity and health data, rewarding healthy behaviour, with a life insurance premium discount for the duration of their policy.

Under the MLC On Track program, which includes access to a Basis Peak smartwatch and a personalised Customer Dashboard , customers will be provided with a target wellness score, based on a number of factors, including step count, active hours, sleep duration and average resting heart rate.

Customers will have between 90 and 160 days to achieve their target wellness score to receive the 5% discount. 

This opportunity will be available twice, meaning that customers could receive a maximum discount of 10% off their insurance premiums for the life of their policy.

Activity trackers such as Fitbit and Nike FuelBand have become popular with millions of people worldwide, but some consumers are worried about their privacy and also that their premiums could be penalised if insurers were to learn of their bad habits. 

However, the Australian Government has opened the door to allowing companies to offer different health insurance premiums to customers based on their personal risk factors.

Tracking devices are not uncommon in the general insurance sector, particularly in the motor vehicle insurance market. Telematics – the marriage of telecommunications and informatics in cars to make them smarter – has been on the rise across the globe. Companies such as QBE Insurance Group are now offering telematic-based policies that involve installing a black box in a customer's car to track how they drive.

Many companies are encouraging staff to track fitness, presumably based on the belief that a fit body and mind equals an efficient employee.

BP has given out over 24,000 fitness trackers to its staff while IBM is subsidising employees to buy Apple Watches so they can track their health.

MLC is hoping that it will be a game-changer that shakes up the insurance industry.

MLC Executive General Manager Insurance David Hackett explains “the insurance industry has assessed risk in the same way for a long time but smartwatches offer new and improved ways of assessing and pricing insurance risk.”

Click here for more information on the MLC On Track program.

David Norman of EYE Fitness explained the potential of wearables in a feature in the September/October 2015 issue of Australasian Leisure Management.

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