Maintaining a healthy lifestyle has many virtues. One among them is discounts from your insurance company. Health insurers want you to stay fit and they reward you for the same. Not many people know that health insurance policies come with wellness benefits in the form of discounts on premium amounts, health checkups or diagnostics or redeemable vouchers for membership in gyms and yoga centre. Data from Policybazaar.com shows only 15 per cent customers use their wellness points as discounts, while renewing their policies.
"The numbers are increasing. It was nil when insurers started offering it. Wellness discounts work well for both insurers and policyholders. The former wants the latter to stay fit, while the latter gets attractive discounts that lead to better retention of policies. Insurance companies and distributors like us are taking a lot of efforts to spread awareness around it," says Amit Chhabra, head-Health Insurance, Policybazaar.com.
"Products such as MAX ReAssure, Aditya Birla-Activ Assure, HDFC-My Health Suraksha, HDFC Ergo- Optima Restore and Cigna ProHealth provide the option to earn wellness points," he adds. The discount on premium could be as high as 100 per cent in Aditya Birla Activ Assur Diamond and Activ Health Platinum plans.
One of the most popular ways to earn wellness points is through daily steps. Customers need to download the app of the insurer and link it with their fitness device to earn points. "Currently we are using Google Fit & Apple Health data, while populating analytics on ICICI Lombard Take Care app. In addition, the app can integrate with Fitbit for tracking users' wellness activities. In coming months, we will be adding more devices on our platform," says Amitabh Jain, Head - Health & Motor Underwriting & Claims, ICICI Lombard GIC.
Some insurers such as Manipal Cigna conduct 'health risk assessment' by asking specific sets of questions linked to your health. Based on your responses, you earn wellness discounts.
Apart from steps, the insurers' apps also track calories burnt, distance travelled, sleep, active hours and stand hours, etc. "Wellness points are also awarded when any user joins gym, yoga or participates in wellness events like marathon," says Jain.
Nowadays, most insurance policies come with free annual health check-ups. "This is another wellness benefit that policyholders prefer to avail. There are more in the pipeline to nudge insured to make healthy choices in life," says Chhabra.
Policybazaar sends out alerts to customers to inform them about how many wellness points and discounts they have earned. "Frequent alerts act as positive reinforcement, otherwise people tend to forget and stop tracking their health data or stop healthy activities altogether," says Chhabra.
According to Max Bupa's Covid-19 Survey launched in 2020, 48 per cent men and 53 per cent women feel it's important to have health insurance that encourages you to take care of your health, that is, rewards you for being healthy and helps track your health parameters, etc.
Be one of them. Connect with your insurer to get more information on wellness rewards available in your policy. New policy buyers must compare wellness rewards offered by different insurers when they hunt for a suitable health plan.