Global wellness – Discovery takes Vitality to Japan

From Reuters

South African insurer Discovery Limited said on Thursday it will launch in Japan its behaviour tracking programme, which rewards health and life insurance clients for healthy lifestyle choices and helps track their fitness.

discovery-Vitality-500x339Discovery gave no financial details about the deal which sees it team up with life insurer Sumitomo Life Insurance Co and telecommunications and internet company SoftBank Group Corp.

“The Japanese insurance market faces rising medical costs and the government is eager for initiatives that will alleviate this burden,” Discovery chief executive Adrian Gore said.

Japan’s aging population is grappling with the rising costs of healthcare as the Asian country struggles with the worst public debt among advanced countries due partly to rising expenditure on medical care.

Discovery is active in 11 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and China.

Read also: Discovery UK CEO: Taking Vitality to the Brits. Sports inspired.

Its shares rose to a more than 2-month high of 127.39 rand on Thursday but later pared gains inline with most stocks on the index closing up 1.56 percent at 125.93 rand.

“The market does like these expansion stories. It dilutes some of that South Africa performance into another area in the world and diversifies that income stream ,” said Global Trader head of trading Nilan Morar.

Discovery Media statement

Discovery Limited today announced a strategic partnership with Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. (Sumitomo Life) and SoftBank Corporation (SoftBank) that will see shared value insurance introduced to the Japanese life insurance market through the joint development and introduction of insurance products incorporated with Vitality, Discovery’s globally recognised wellness programme. In addition, the partnership will focus on the joint development of a platform for collection of health related data and wellness activities by leveraging the digital partnership between Sumitomo Life and SoftBank.

Adrian Gore, Discovery Limited’s Chief Executive commented, “Discovery is proud to be partnering with Sumitomo Life and Softbank to introduce Vitality to the Japanese market. Sumitomo Life is an excellent partner for Discovery. Their rich experience and excellent track record in the Japanese life insurance market, combined with SoftBank’s cutting-edge and sophisticated technological and digital capabilities, supported by Discovery’s IP, will transform the market, create social value and achieve business growth.”

Read also: Discovery profits rise 17% – Vitality goes gold with Apple Watch

Vitality is a world-class behavioural wellness solution that helps policyholders become healthier by giving them the tools, knowledge, access, and incentives to improve their health. The programme is based on sound clinical research and behavioural economics, and focuses on tackling key areas shown to stem the rise of NCDs viz. early detection and health screening, and behaviour modification. Vitality’s shared value approach is based on incentivising policyholders to manage their wellness – Vitality is integrated into insurance product offerings, leveraging insights from behavioural economics in an immediate rewards system that drives positive behaviour change over the long term. The change in behaviour results in improved profitability for the insurer which in turn is used to fund the incentives that encourage behaviour change – thus creating a virtuous cycle. The impact from a clinical and actuarial perspective is significant. In this way, the model continues to drive shared value: it delivers better health and value for clients, superior actuarial dynamics for the insurer, and a healthier society at large.

Apple watchBased on the concept of creating shared value between clients, society, companies and their employees, the purpose of the partnership is to contribute to improving the health and healthy life expectancy of clients in Japan. This will be achieved by encouraging them to engage in ongoing health-enhancing activities through Discovery’s global Vitality model leveraging incentives and rewards, including access to a unique programme that brings Vitality together with Apple’s groundbreaking health and fitness companion, Apple Watch, to drive down insurance costs while promoting physical activity and overall better health. Product development will start immediately, pending approval from the relevant authorities.

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