In this review, I cover who Vitality Health are, if their life insurance policy is right for you, and how you can qualify for the new Apple Watch 6 for £37.
We hope our Vitality Health life insurance review is helpful and if you have any questions, as always feel free to call us.
Vitality is an award-winning health and life insurance provider, owned by Discovery Holdings.
Discovery was created in 2007 for the UK as a joint venture with PruHealth and PruProtect.
Vitality Life and Vitality Health were born from this in 2014.
Now we’ve covered the boring bits – let’s crack on with the review!
Vitality offers an extensive range of products in the health and life insurance sectors for personal protection and for the business industry.
They have a unique way of engaging with their customers; encouraging healthy living and providing a variety of rewards for doing so.
This is exemplified by their current marketing slogan; “positively different“.
Vitality also provides customers with a platform to visit, where you can feel part of a club of people who have similar goals.
Which, let’s face it – sounds awesome.
Learn more about this award-winning insurer in our comprehensive Vitalitylife insurance 2020 review…
Vitality life insurance
So let’s review Vitality life insurance, under the VitalityLife brand, is available to those aged 17 to 75 years.
Cover can be between £10,000 and £20,000,000, depending on your personal requirements.
You may be considering taking out life insurance if you have dependents and want to protect them from any financial strain if you are no longer around.
A life insurance pay out can be used to cover mortgage repayments, funeral costs, credit card debt and family living costs.
In fact, the proceeds from a life policy can be used as your beneficiaries wish.
How does Vitality life insurance work?
Vitality life insurance cover types include term-based, whole of life and serious illness.
These can be taken out as either single or joint policies.
Their standard cover includes the usual core elements of a life insurance policy.
The policyholder pays a monthly premium calculated by the insurer.
In return, their family would receive a cash lump sum if they pass away within the term.
Vitality also offers their customers the option to optimise their life insurance.
This means that by paying a little extra each month you would have access to additional rewards.
We break down some of the Vitality policy types below.
Vitality Term life insurance
Vitality term life cover pays out a cash lump sum if you pass away within the set policy term.
It’s also possible to make an early claim on your policy if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness and given less than 12 months to live.
The term can be from 5 to 70 years depending on your circumstances. If the cover expires before your passing, then no pay out is issued.
The maximum age to take out this policy is 75, and the maximum expiry age is 90 years old.
The maximum sum assured (payout amount) is £20,000,000 with Vitality term life cover.
You could receive up to 30% upfront premium discount with this plan when opting into the Vitality Optimiser program.
This discount is based on the term length.
The longer the policy term, the bigger the discount.
Vitality offers level, decreasing or indexed term life cover.
Vitality Level term life insurance
With level term cover, the sum assured maintains its value throughout the policy until the term ends.
This type of cover is ideal for paying interest-only mortgages, outstanding debts and funeral costs.
Because this cover is term-based it’s possible to outlive your policy.
Vitality Decreasing term life insurance
Decreasing term cover offers a sum assured that decreases over the course of the policy term.
Therefore, the further into your policy you pass away, the smaller the pay out your family will receive.
This policy type is ideal for covering a repayment mortgage, as the cover amount can be set to decrease in line with your remaining mortgage.
Decreasing term is usually the most cost-effective option, as the risk to the insurer reduces over time.
Vitality Indexed term life cover
Indexed term life cover offers a sum assured that increases by a small percentage each year throughout the term.
See also How does Coronavirus Impact Income Protection Policies?
The cover amount will increase in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI).
Premiums would increase slightly more than RPI each year to reflect your increasing age.
The aim of this type of cover is to protect the policyholder from inflation and the rising cost of living.
Vitality Whole of life insurance
A whole of life insurance policy from Vitality guarantees to pay out to your family when (not if) you pass away.
Vitality cover lasts for as long as you live, so is usually taken out by those who are in later life and in good health, (or you may pay more in than you receive back).
Vitality offers this cover in a few different ways.
There is a whole of life traditional plan that offers standard premium rates which remain fixed during the policy.
LifestyleCare cover option which can pay out early if you fall unwell and need financial support, (more information below)
Vitality whole of life insurance optimiser gives you the opportunity to adjust your premiums in line with changing interest rates.
You could receive up to 40% upfront premium discount with this plan when opting into the Vitality Optimiser Program.
This discount again is based on your age. The younger you are, the larger the discount.
For example, if you’re younger than 45 and taking out this policy, you could receive the full 40% discount.
And if you’re over 70, then you could receive a 25% discount.
Does Vitality Offer Over 50s Life Insurance?
Vitality doesn’t currently offer an over 50s plan, however, if you’re over 50 then a whole of life policy may be suitable.
It’s also possible to add on the Vitality LifestyleCare cover to your whole of life policy for an additional monthly fee.
Vitality Serious illness cover
Vitality cover more serious medical conditions than any other insurer, (182 to be exact).
✓ All heart attacks✓ All strokes✓ More cancers than any other provider✓ Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease✓ Liver disease✓ Dementia✓ Coronary artery by-pass surgery✓ Kidney failure✓ Major organ transplant✓ Multiple sclerosis
See a full list here – Vitality Conditions Full List
Their serious illness plan differs to critical illness cover offered by other insurance providers.
You can protect your loved ones from financial hardship if you were to fall seriously ill and unable to work.
The benefit of this cover is that it can be claimed on more than one occasion, unlike critical illness policies.
You can also add your children to your serious illness plan, with a cover amount of between £25,000 and £100,000.
A cash lump sum is paid out if your child becomes ill with any of the conditions covered within the policy.
Serious illness cover can be included as part of a Vitality life insurance policy or taken out as a separate policy.
You wouldn’t be able to take cover out for pre-existing illnesses.
Other Vitality insurance plans
Vitality offers the following additional insurance products:
- Income protection cover
- Mortgage protection cover
Vitality also allows you to tailor your policy with additional covers and options.
These include:
- Family income cover
- Dementia and FrailCare cover.
Vitality rewards & benefits
Vitality members are rewarded for keeping up a healthy lifestyle.
Eligibility to receive Vitality benefits will be subject to which reward add-on you’ve chosen.
Whilst most insurers these days offer a free welcome gift as an incentive to take out a policy, Vitality are the only insurer to offer rewards for living a healthy lifestyle.
Most offer a free gift card from the likes of Amazon or Argos. Life insurance broker Reassured Ltd have written an in-depth review of all the best free gifts available.
A number of the Vitality benefits are highlighted below.
Vitality partner discounts
Apple Watch 6 for only £37*
Vitality reward partner discounts include 50% off running shoes
Discounted health check ups
75% off Champney Spa break
40% off Garmin devices.
40% off discounted gym memberships at Nuffield Health, Virgin Active or David Lloyd.
Up to £400 cashback every 3 years with Vitality reward partners*
50% off Café Nero Drink every week plus 25% off food purchased in-store*
2% cash back American Express credit card
Free Cinema tickets to either Vue or Cineworld every 2 weeks*
Free Rakuten TV movie voucher every week*
Free membership to Amazon Prime*
Discounted Luxury Hotel trips through Mr & Mrs Smith
Up to 25% off Waitrose & Partners food shopping* |
See also Coronavirus & Private Health Insurance
*these rewards are earned based on you hitting your Vitality points targets, I explain more below.
Review of Vitality points scheme
By tracking your daily activity using an eligible tracking device or app, you can earn Vitality points towards your Vitality Program.
The more activity you do, such as running or cycling, the more points you can earn.
The points can then be used towards Vitality Active Rewards, such as the ones listed above.
Vitality customers can keep track of all their points, reward eligibility and monthly savings by logging into the Vitality member zone which can be downloaded as an app.
A whole of life plan with Vitality could achieve an upfront premium discount of up to 60%. This discount is based on your age.
Fixed term life cover plans can receive an upfront discount of up to 30%. This discount is based on the term length.
To continue to receive cheaper premiums, you would need to take part in the Vitality programme by keeping active.
They have two insurance plans in which you can gain these rewards and discounts are outlined below.
Optimiser with Vitality Plus
With this option, you pay an additional monthly fee of £4.75 (if your single monthly premium is more than £45) and would be eligible for the maximum benefits available (listed above).
Your premiums will change depending on your Vitality status within the Vitality Program
Optimiser with Vitality Select
For the ‘Select’ option, (if your single monthly premium is less than £45) you would be eligible for a selection of the rewards listed above, not all of them. However there is no charge.
Your premiums will change depending on your Vitality status within the Vitality Program.
Now the bit you’ve been waiting for…
Vitality Apple Watch 6
Vitality Active Rewards give you the chance to save on an Apple Watch Series 5 and 6.
You can save up to £432 on the Apple watch series 6 – an attractive gift incentive for the active Vitality customers.
To make the most of the offer, you would need to earn activity points through the Vitality Program.
The more activity points you earn, the less you pay back each month for the Apple watch.
To be eligible for this offer you would need to be on a Vitality plan with the Vitality Optimiser, which is an additional £4.75 a month.
You would also need to be paying a minimum monthly premium above £45, (which is more cover than the majority of the population require).
For this offer, you would also need to agree to a consumer credit agreement (0% APR) and set up a direct debit for 36 months.
A deposit of £37 is required, but the monthly direct debit will be paid for by Vitality in full every month if you hit your point target.
Payments are between £0 and £12 depending on your level of activity in the previous month, (how many points you have earned).
Vitality Health Insurance
Vitality also provides private health insurance, under the VitalityHealth brand, for private medical treatment in the UK.
You may want to take out private medical insurance to avoid long NHS waiting lists and to have more control over your treatment.
If you take out Vitality health insurance and have an eligible plan, you could also have access to various rewards and discounts.
Summary of Vitality life insurance:
5* Star Defaqto ratings for life insurance and serious illness cover
Receive cover for 182 conditions with serious illness cover
Large upfront discounts for term life insurance and whole of life cover
Earn rewards with maintaining a healthy lifestyle
Discounted health checks for all customers
Vitality Life is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Hopefully our Vitality life insurance review has been helpful! If you need advice on any type of insurance – from Life Insurance to Home Insurance, give a member of our team a call.
