VitalityLife announces Dynamic Underwriting Benefit to recognise impact of sustained health improvement on insurance risk
15 October 2026
VitalityLife announces Dynamic Underwriting Benefit
VitalityLife has today launched a Dynamic Underwriting Benefit, a new approach that recognises that a person’s health and risk can change over time, and enables their life insurance premiums to change with it.
The first-of-its-kind benefit will give eligible members with a BMI premium loading the opportunity to reduce their premiums and earn cashback when they reduce their BMI and improve their risk profile. Based on VitalityLife internal data, BMI currently accounts for around 75% of loadings applied to VitalityLife plans, making it a significant factor in the cost of cover for affected members.
Eligible members will receive a personalised BMI target and support through the Vitality Programme to help them work towards it, including support for healthy eating and physical activity, such as a discounted gym membership, fitness trackers and weight-management services through WeightWatchers and Second Nature.
As part of Vitality’s existing partnership with Boots Online Doctor, members who are clinically eligible*, can access support through its weight management treatment service.
Progress against the new Dynamic Underwriting Benefit will be verified through a free annual Vitality Healthcheck.** Members who achieve their personalised BMI target can receive cashback each year for the first three years, subject to reaching at least Silver Vitality status***, earned by engaging with the Vitality Programme and taking steps to improve their health. Cashback ranges from one month’s premium at Silver to two months at Gold and three months at Platinum.
Members who sustain their BMI improvement across all three years will also have their premium automatically reviewed to reflect their lower risk, without the need to be re-underwritten. Any resulting reduction will then continue to apply for the life of the plan.
Vitality AI, developed with Google, makes this new approach possible by enabling the insurer to understand health risks and behaviours at scale and deliver more personalised support and incentives to help members improve their health. This recognises that the health and risk profile someone has when they first take out life insurance does not necessarily reflect their lifetime risk or determine the premium they should pay throughout the lifetime of their plan.
Justin Taurog, CEO of VitalityLife, said: “Our model has always been built around a simple idea: people’s health can change, and insurance has an important role to play in supporting and recognising that.
“We’ve already put that principle into practice through Optimiser, rewarding members for engaging with their health and enabling them to influence the premiums they pay over time. Dynamic underwriting builds on this - recognising sustained improvements in underlying health and risk, initially through BMI.
“This is about helping more people make lasting changes to improve their health, while exploring how insurance can better recognise those improvements and the impact they can have on risk over time.”
For more information, visit Vitality.co.uk.
Notes to Editors
* Access to Boots Online Doctor's weight management treatment service will be extended to eligible VitalityLife members with a qualifying plan and a monthly premium of at least £25, subject to clinical eligibility.
**Each eligible adult member gets a free yearly health check included on their plan for the first three years.
***About Vitality Status: Vitality Status reflects a member’s engagement with the Vitality Programme. Members earn Vitality points for taking steps to understand and improve their health, including completing health checks and screenings, being physically active and engaging with other healthy activities. Points contribute towards four status levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum, with Bronze the starting level. As members earn more points and move through the status levels, they can access greater rewards and benefits from Vitality and its partners.
Dynamic Underwriting Benefit
- The benefit will be available to VitalityLife members aged 18 and over who take out a new qualifying Personal Protection Plan, with a minimum monthly premium of £25 and have a loading due to high BMI.
- Members’ progress will be assessed using their annual Vitality Healthcheck.
- In each of the first three plan years, members who achieve the qualifying BMI category and reach at least Silver Vitality status can earn up to three months’ premiums back.
- Members who earn cashback in each of the first three years will have their premiums automatically reviewed and adjusted to reflect their improved risk profile.
Cashback and any subsequent premium adjustment will apply only to cover with a BMI loading. - Members who make a claim under Serious Illness Cover or Income Protection Cover during the first three years will no longer be eligible for the benefit.
- Participation is entirely optional.