Innovation intelligence brief
Innovation intelligence brief
John Hancock, one of the oldest and largest North American life insurers, will stop underwriting traditional life insurance and instead sell only interactive policies that track fitness and health data through wearable devices and smartphones.
What became of it
Completed · High confidence · Last verified 2026-10-17
As catalogued
In September 2018 John Hancock, Manulife's US life insurer, announced it would stop issuing traditional life policies and include its Vitality behaviour-based programme (fitness and health data from wearables and smartphones, rewards and premium savings) on all new life insurance policies.
2026 reality
The Vitality programme continues: John Hancock states that all new policies are issued with Vitality GO (not available in New York or Puerto Rico; no premium savings), with an optional upgrade to Vitality PLUS within 25 months of issue (from about $2/month or included in some policies) that offers premium savings of up to 25%. May 2026 NPR coverage describes a points-and-tier system (bronze to platinum) rewarding gym visits, healthy food purchases, sleep tracking and screenings with perks.
The original model remains substantially intact; John Hancock continues to issue life policies only with Vitality, with tiered GO/PLUS versions.
Still the most prominent US example of an incumbent life insurer embedding behaviour-based engagement in its entire life product line; evidence of a longevity effect remains contested.
Third taxonomy
REVIEW · Verified via John Hancock pages (search snippets; direct fetch 403) that all new policies carry Vitality GO with an optional PLUS upgrade, and NPR's May 2026 details. Refined reality2026 (GO excludes NY/PR and premium savings; savings only with PLUS), retyped the 2018 milestone from 'pivot' to 'launch' since it is the catalogued innovation itself, and added the official 2018 release.
Documented evidence
Homepage
Research interpretation
Classification paths, as catalogued, connect this example to the original insurance digitalization research models.