So often, it's the Americans that get all the cool promotions, but this time it's equal opportunity for those who want to get healthy and stick to a routine.
Along with the announcement that John Hancock, a U.S.-based insurance company, would begin offering discounted Apple Watch Series 3 units to policyholders, its Canadian parent company, Manulife, is offering the same.
Through its Manulife Vitality life insurance program, Canadian policyholders can choose to get an Apple Watch Series 1 (38mm) for $17 CAD or a Series 3 (GPS, non-cellular) for $39. The watch is paid off monthly at different rates depending on how active you are — the closer you hew to Vitality's monthly activity goals, the less you pay.
This idea is not new, but it's taken to the logical next step here; policyholders are not required to perform certain amounts of activity but are merely encouraged through a form of gamification. Data is shared anonymously with the insurance company and is not linked to any one profile, so privacy is assured.
Manulife Vitality is also a family-based insurance program, so the idea is to get every member of a household involved. Apple isn't the only partner in the Vitality program, too: companies like Amazon, Goodlife Fitness, Garmin and ExamOne are also on board, offering discounted products and services.
In a post at the popular Redflagdeals forums, people looking into the deal were concerned that by moving over to Vitality, their monthly premiums would go up significantly. Vitality is slightly more expensive, on average, than other policies from Manulife and other life insurance providers, but the idea is to save money in the long term by participating in the programs, both to stay healthy and to get discounts on popular services a family may be paying for anyway.
Thoughts?
Are you interested in using the Apple Watch to stay healthy through Manulife Vitality? Let us know in the comments below!
