Business

Life Insurance Company Offers Lower Rates In Exchange For Health Data

Financial service John Hancock says users aren't required to turn over data to the company, but it offers a lot of incentives for them to do so.

Life Insurance Company Offers Lower Rates In Exchange For Health Data
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Financial services company John Hancock is attaching a program to all its new life insurance policies that will give users perks for letting the company track their health data.

The Vitality program gives users incentives for eating well and exercising, which they'll be able to track with Fitbits, smart watches and similar devices.

Users can earn savings of up to 15 percent on annual premiums by completing a variety of health-related tasks. John Hancock's CEO told the New York Times the reasoning behind the program is simple: the longer customers live, the more premiums the company collects. 

While policy-holders aren't required to opt in to the Vitality program, critics have raised concerns that the company's data collection could lead to security vulnerabilities for consumers.