It’s not just your spouse who thinks you require to hit the fitness center much more. Now it’s your life insurance organization, as well.


John Hancock, a subsidiary of Canada’s Manulife Economic, is the very first U.S. life insurance organization to offer discounts to policyholders who wear a fitness tracker and execute well on metrics like annual well being screenings, weight loss or even acquiring a flu shot.


The plan, announced Wednesday, is optional and applies to John Hancock’s Term with Vitality policy (available in 20 states) and Protection UL with Vitality universal life policies (accessible in 30 states).


“We are reinventing the consumer life insurance expertise and altering the way folks believe about this vital element of their overall monetary overall health,” says Craig Bromley, president of John Hancock Financial. “We think this supplying will make life insurance relevant for new generations of buyers and reinvigorate the whole category.”


How it performs


If you acquire a policy linked to fitness, John Hancock will send you a cost-free Fitbit monitor. That way, they’ll know regardless of whether you went for a 5-mile run or skipped the health club in favor of the couch for a handful of days.


In a manner equivalent to that of a credit card rewards plan, your actions earn you points that place you into a single of 4 levels — bronze, silver, gold or platinum. Points qualify buyers for hotel discounts, present cards and other perks. The greater you go, the much more you save on premiums, too — up to 15% annually.


John Hancock says a 45-year-old couple every getting $ 500,000 Protection UL with Vitality life insurance policies could save about $ 25,000 on their premiums to age 85, and even a lot more if they reside longer, assuming they reach gold status every year.


“We want to make life insurance coverage far more immediate and relevant in the every day lives of our policyholders and assist them connect their economic effectively-becoming to their lengthy-term wellness,” says Michael Doughty, president of John Hancock Insurance coverage.


Privacy concerns


But with more data comes much more threat. Not only does your fitness tracker tell John Hancock when you’re being good, but it also tattles on you for being undesirable — which means you will lose any discount. Progressive delivers a related plan for auto insurance consumers, named Snapshot, that is backfiring in the kind of a surcharge for consumers with negative driving behaviors.


Private information also ends up on insurance coverage company computer systems, which could concern shoppers in the wake of the current data breach at overall health insurance giant Anthem, in which hackers accessed account info for millions of customers and an additional breach at health provider Premera.


A John Hancock spokesperson says it will not be sharing the overall health data with any other entities, and it will encrypt and retailer the data on firm computers in the United States.


John Hancock’s new strategy comes amid slumping life insurance sales. According to market study group LIMRA, just 44% of U.S. households have individual life insurance coverage (a 50-year low) and 30% have no life insurance coverage at all — a trend John Hancock is hoping to reverse with wearable tech.


“Most Americans know they want a lot more life insurance, and our study shows that practically all customers feel they could be living a healthier life,” Doughty says. “Our new goods enable them to achieve both of those ambitions with a single straightforward, engaging remedy.”


Sarah Cooke is a staff writer covering personal finance for NerdWallet. Follow her on Twitter @sarah_wolfe and on Google+.


Image by means of iStock.