Many people wake up intending to eat well and exercise. But then the day gets away from them. Feel familiar? Now, one life insurance company is betting that gift cards, prize wheels and fitness streaks can help close that gap.

The Vitality program from life insurance company John Hancock rewards policyholders with points for healthy behaviors such as going to the gym, buying healthy foods, tracking sleep, getting preventive screenings and check-ups. Points translate into tangible perks such as discounts on a new smartwatch, Amazon or Starbucks gift cards, hotel deals, savings at retail stores and discounts when purchasing fruits and vegetables.

“I’ve already got 5,400 points. I’m silver, almost approaching gold,” said Matt Hudack, a financial planner and John Hancock policyholder, scrolling through his app. As an outdoor enthusiast, he likes the REI discount. “It’s really a nice incentive.”

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Just as airlines offer their frequent flyers more rewards as they fly more, customers enrolled in the Vitality program move up through tiers, from bronze to platinum, as they build healthier habits and maintain them. One of Hudack’s favorite features is a digital prize wheel he can spin after hitting activity benchmarks. “The spins are fun,” he said.

Turning “death insurance” into a living benefit

John Hancock CEO Brooks Tingle says the program reflects a deliberate shift in how to think about its core business.

“We call this the life insurance business,” he says. But the reality is that for hundreds of years the focus was on death. “It was all about, hey, you’re going to die, you should be prepared,” Tingle says. “What we’ve done is literally turn that around. This is about living, and living better.”

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The company’s logic is straightforward. Healthier customers live longer, pay premiums longer, and are more profitable. “The longer we’re able to collect and invest the premiums, the more money we make,” Tingle said. “You want to live a long, healthy life? It’s good for us, too.”

He says there’s great alignment between the company’s bottom line and what’s beneficial for its customers.

A new way to “gamify” good health

Cardiologist Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, collaborated with John Hancock on the program’s dietary incentives. He says the game-like structure can help keep people engaged.

“What’s exciting about gamification is it’s not just about the dollar amount, it’s about making it fun and exciting and having prizes,” Mozaffarian says. “Growing evidence shows that it actually works quite well.”

The psychology of uncertainty matters, too. “If you just say you’re going to give somebody $10, they will probably shrug,” he said. “But if you tell them there’s a game and maybe they’ll win $10, maybe they’ll win a $20 card, it gets really exciting and people actually do respond well to that.”

Mozaffarian advised John Hancock on how to structure its food-related incentives, including discounts on fruits and vegetables. He points to research showing that financial incentives can effectively promote healthier eating habits at a time when diet-related disease is widespread.

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Behavior change is complex

In a statement to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health in 2025, during a hearing on modernizing American health care, Tingle described some early results. Vitality members walk twice as many steps daily as the average American, he told lawmakers. And about half of members with high blood pressure brought their levels into a healthy range within a year.

John Hancock also partners with companies that offer advanced screening tests, giving members discounted access to early detection blood tests and MRI scans that can screen for hundreds of conditions.

It’s still early days, in terms of determining whether rewards programs and financial incentives will translate into longer lives, says Dr. Samir Sinha, a geriatrician and aging expert at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto.

“There’s not enough evidence right now to say that these sorts of programs are going to actually have the intended effect,” of helping people live longer and healthier lives, Sinha said. “However, if this can actually ingrain some healthy behaviors that become lifelong habits, this might actually create a longevity dividend,” he added.

Sinha notes the concept isn’t entirely new. Car insurers have long offered lower rates to drivers who allow their habits to be tracked to show they are safe drivers. “This is now being brought into life insurance,” he said.

Customers who enroll in the Vitality program can get lower premiums, of up to 25% savings, depending on which version of the program they opt for. And that can be another financial incentive.

A different conversation

For Hudack, the program has had an unexpected professional benefit. As a financial planner, he says life insurance can be a grim topic to raise with clients as it’s a reminder of mortality. Now he has something more uplifting to offer. “They like the idea that their life insurance is now a tool for healthier living,” he says.

It’s no longer just a reminder that they will die one day. He now has one staff member in his office dedicated to servicing Vitality clients.

On Monday mornings, Hudack checks his app and sees his activity counter reset to zero, but it doesn’t discourage him. Instead, it serves as a nudge.

“I’ve got to get going,” he says. “It starts all over again this morning.”