It is not just your spouse who thinks you need to have to hit the gym more. Now it is your life insurance organization, too.


John Hancock, a subsidiary of Canada’s Manulife Monetary, is the first U.S. life insurance organization to offer discounts to policyholders who put on a fitness tracker and execute properly on metrics like annual overall health 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 (obtainable in 30 states).


“We are reinventing the customer life insurance encounter and changing the way folks believe about this critical element of their all round financial well being,” says Craig Bromley, president of John Hancock Monetary. “We think this providing will make life insurance relevant for new generations of buyers and reinvigorate the entire category.”


How it operates


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 few days.


In a manner comparable to that of a credit card rewards system, your actions earn you points that spot you into a single of 4 levels — bronze, silver, gold or platinum. Points qualify clients for hotel discounts, gift cards and other perks. The greater you go, the much more you save on premiums, also — 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 much more if they live longer, assuming they attain gold status each year.


“We want to make life insurance coverage much more quick and relevant in the day-to-day lives of our policyholders and help them connect their monetary properly-getting to their long-term overall health,” says Michael Doughty, president of John Hancock Insurance coverage.


Privacy issues


But with a lot more data comes a lot more danger. Not only does your fitness tracker inform John Hancock when you are becoming very good, but it also tattles on you for being bad — which means you’ll shed any discount. Progressive provides a comparable plan for auto insurance coverage consumers, referred to as Snapshot, that is backfiring in the type of a surcharge for clients with bad driving behaviors.


Private data also ends up on insurance organization computer systems, which may concern consumers in the wake of the recent data breach at wellness insurance giant Anthem, in which hackers accessed account information for millions of buyers and yet another breach at health provider Premera.


A John Hancock spokesperson says it won’t be sharing the health information with any other entities, and it will encrypt and retailer the information on organization computers in the United States.


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


“Most Americans know they want much more life insurance, and our study shows that nearly all buyers feel they could be living a healthier life,” Doughty says. “Our new products enable them to achieve each of these ambitions with one particular easy, engaging answer.”


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


Image by means of iStock.