What is Manulife Vitality?

What is Manulife Vitality, and how does it work?

11 Minute read

Originally published: October 3, 2022

What is Manulife Vitality, and how does it work?

What is Manulife Vitality, and how does it work?

11 Minute read

Originally published: October 3, 2022

What is Manulife Vitality, and how does it work?

Whether you are a customer with a Manulife policy already or interested in being a customer with Manulife to receive many benefits, Manulife has partnered up with big companies to bring you their program Manulife Vitality – a wellness tracking app to encourage you and your employees to follow their personal pathway to better health while receiving many rewards doing so.

In this article:

What is Manulife?

Founded in 1887, Manulife is one of Canada’s largest insurance provider, serving over 30 million customers. They’re one of the few life insurers that offers a complete electronic application process and policy delivery, using a predictive analytics process to approve up to $2,000,000 in coverage without requiring a medical exam from an applicant. For a full review on Manulife and their products, check out our full Manulife Insurance Review.

Is Manulife life insurance good?

Manulife life insurance receives a 3.5 stars out of 5 stars from us because they have good term plans for families and are competitively priced but on the other hand, they are lacking in term plan options for individuals. Take a look at the pros and cons of Manulife life insurance:

Manulife Pros

  • Approval without medical underwriting available
  • Term plans designed for families
  • Rewards program to save on payments and earn rewards with their Vitality Plan
  • Competitively priced permanent life insurance products

Manulife Cons

  • Less term options (10, 20 year terms, or to age 65 or for life)
  • Long delays with underwriting process, even in case of non-medical applications
  • Applications do not have “instant” approval like many competitors, hence delaying process

To find out more about the top life insurance companies in Canada check out our guide: Best Life Insurance Companies in Canada Guide.

What is Manulife Vitality?

Manulife Vitality is a wellness program made by Manulife containing many partnerships, and the purpose of Manulife Vitality is to provide an interactive wellness program for Manulife customers to encourage users to have a more active and healthier lifestyle. The Manulife Vitality program is available to those who buy a group plan or individual health and dental plan, or for individuals who buy qualifying Manulife’s life insurance products (Family Term and Manulife UL). You will receive points by completing daily and weekly tasks such as a nutrition course or daily exercise goals, then the points you earn will collectively give you a Vitality Status that then unlocks discounts in brands and services you know as well as discounts for your policy with Manulife. 

You can experience Manulife Vitality in 2 different ways:

  • Vitality Go: Available at no extra cost for Family Term and Manulife UL products, and provides the basic vitality rewards
  • Vitality Plus: Available for Family Term with Vitality Plus and Manulife UL with Vitality Plus for a $6 a month, and provides the opportunity to earn hundreds of dollars more in rewards and control the cost of your insurance premiums, up to 15% off.

What is Vitality Age?

Vitality Age™  is a measurement of your current health based on your current physical condition as well as lifestyle choices including: how active you are, how healthy you eat, and more. To be exact, Vitality Age is calculated using your age, gender, height, weight, waist circumference, exercise habit, blood pressure, fasting glucose, cholesterol, eating habits, smoking and alcohol intake, as well as mental wellbeing. Knowing your Vitality Age is to allow you to understand if your current lifestyle choices reflect well on your current health, so your Vitality Age could not be your actual age. For example, if your Vitality Age is greater than your actual age, there is room for improvements in increasing your general wellbeing. And checking your Vitality Age is free: you do not need any type of account or subscription to do so. To learn about how your health and pre-existing health conditions can affect your insurance, check our our Guide to Life Insurance With Medical Conditions In Canada.

Cost of Manulife Vitality

Manulife Vitality Go is free and automatically added to your Manulife Family Term plan or Manulife UL plan. You can upgrade to Manulife Vitality Plus for an additional $6/month for access to more benefits and rewards.

How to enroll in Manulife Vitality

Manulife Vitality is a free service for individuals, but the Plus version it does cost an additional $6 a month that is added on to your existing individual policy with Manulife. So, to enroll in Manulife Vitality – it is as easy as logging into your Manulife account online on your computer and choosing to enroll for Manulife Vitality. 

Once enrolled with a participating Manulife insurance policy, the Manulife Vitality program can be found on the app store on both Apple and Android phones. Then, on the Manulife Vitality app you are able to log into your Manulife account and see tasks available for you to complete to receive points towards your rewards. 

Vitality Status and Rewards Status

Before you can get any rewards, you must earn points called Vitality Points within Manulife Vitality in order to receive a rank called a Vitality Status. There are four statuses including: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, where Bronze is the lowest rank and Platinum is the highest. Each rank has a minimum of points you need to achieve to receive that rank. So, the more points you earn the higher your Vitality Status is.

Here are the Vitality Statuses and required points to achieve each status:

The four Vitality Statuses from bronze to platinum for Manulife’s Vitality.

Your Vitality Status controls your Reward Status, where your Reward Status unlocks eligibility for rewards like discounts from partners like Amazon.ca and Hotels.com. So, within the first year of you in the Vitality program your Reward Status is your Vitality Status, then, for every year you are in the Vitality Program your Reward Status is what your Vitality Status was before it refreshes because each year you are in the Vitality program the Vitality Status refreshes starting back at Bronze with 10% of the points you previously had. 

For example, in the first year your Reward Status is your Vitality Status, but if you finish in Gold status in the first year of using Vitality, then your Rewards Status will stay Gold for the duration of your second year in the program, achieving a higher Reward Status if your Vitality Status passes your current Reward Status. So to summarize, your Reward Status reflects on your Vitality Status the previous year of you using the Manulife Vitality program.

Therefore, your Vitality status reflects on how hard you are working to improve your wellbeing in the years of using Manulife Vitality and your Reward Status then changes based on your previous Vitality Status before it resets to Bronze status. 

Earning Points

Now for the most important part, you cannot get rewards without getting points. Points in Manulife Vitality are called Vitality Points, and you can earn points by completing a large range of activities, giving you the opportunity to earn more than 18,000 points a year – which is 8,000 points above the highest Vitality Status called Platinum. There are many ways to earn Vitality Points, the main two ways are through completing tasks such as submitting your proof of vaccination, online learning, athletic events, and much more, or by reaching your weekly target to either reach a certain amount of steps, working out, or burning calories. By completing tasks you can receive up to 6,000 points per task or receive 20 or 30 points daily while trying to reach your weekly target. 

Sign up Bonus

After signing up for Manulife Vitality, you have a chance to receive a sign up bonus. Complete your Vitality Health Review (VHR) within 90 days of your enrollment to receive a total of 1,500 Vitality Points. Giving a bonus of 1,000 Vitality Points.

See below to see the list of ways to earn Vitality Points in Manulife Vitality:

Different ways you can earn points towards rewards on Manulife’s Vitality.

Rewards and Benefits from Manulife Vitality

Rewards are based on what your Reward Status is, so the higher the Reward Status the bigger the discounts and benefits are. Vitality has partnered with Apple watch, Garmin, amazon.ca, ExamOne®, HelloFresh, Expedia, GoodLife fitness, and more. Now, depending if you are in the Vitality program through individual insurance or from a group benefit, the availability of rewards and benefits differ. As an individual user you do see more value for rewards than in a group.

Group Benefit rewards and benefits

Group benefit rewards only apply if you are under a group health and dental plan with Manulife, then enrolling into Manulife Vitality is free. Groups in Manulife Vitality can be commonly found from workplaces where the employer buys a group health and dental plan for their employees. 

Including:

  • 40% off Garmin Watches and accessories
  • Up to 25% off Expedia
  • Chance to win gift cards to Foot Locker©, Tim Hortons©, Indigo©, Hudson’s Bay©, and Cineplex©

Individual Insurance rewards and benefits

Buying an individual insurance policy from Manulife and enrolling into Manulife Vitality Plus for $6/month will increase the different types of rewards and benefits you can achieve.

Including:

  • Free Garmin Vivofit 4 watch or 30% discount on Garmin Watch upgrades
  • Get an Apple watch for as low as $0
  • Free Amazon Prime if you reach Platinum status for three years in a row
  • Chance to win gift cards to Amazon 
  • Free paramedical screening test with ExamOne
  • Up to 50% discounts to Expedia, HelloFresh, GoodLife Fitness, headspace, and Les Mills On Demand

Pros and Cons of Manulife Vitality

Pros

  • Either free or an additional $6/month add on to your current plan with Manulife

  • Opportunities to get a free fitness tracking watch (Garmin or Apple) for individual Vitality members
  • Up to 50% off discounts for a handful of well known companies
  • Receive an Amazon gift card every time you achieve a higher Vitality Status
  • Receive a larger discount to your insurance policy with Manulife as you achieve a higher status
  • Gives advice, goal setting help, and recommendation on increasing your health while working towards rewards
  • Many ways to get points, and getting points require little to no skill

Cons

  • Must be a customer with a Manulife UL or Family Term insurance plan, or health and dental plan

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Manulife Vitality

Manulife Vitality is a program you sign up for if you are a customer with Manulife which will give you access to discounts and chances to win gift cards. 

The only way multiple people can join Vitality together is by either each person is you have a term life insurance policy with Manulife or you have a group health and dental plan with Manulife.

Yes! You are welcomed to bring your own fitness watch to help track your progress towards your daily and weekly tasks to work towards your rewards.

Enrolling in the program costs an additional $5/month to an existing individual Manulife dental and health plan or Manulife term life insurance policy.

There are many rewards including discounts to top brands like Apple watches, getting chances to win gift cards, and discounts with your Manulife policy. And also, you are able to get a free Garvin watch or an Apple watch starting at $0 with individual benefits from Manulife Vitality.

Manulife Vitality is a program that encourages people to make more healthy decisions, whether it’s going to a dentist check-up or exercising. Completing these tasks are not only for your wellbeing, they also reward you with discounts, chances to win gift cards, and the ability to finance something like an Apple Watch for $0/month by actively participating.

Manulife Vitality does have a cost, it is a $5 per month add on to your Manulife term life insurance policy or group or individual dental and health plan.

Many Manulife life insurance clients are satisfied with their experience with the company:

  • Agents are professional, helpful, and generally respond to their questions and claims promptly
  • Manulife advisors are helpful in finding the best possible coverage for those with less insurance experience

However, some clients find that:

  • Clients have been redirected numerous times before being able to access their account information
  • Experienced delays in certain claims, especially since the onset of COVID-19
  • Been hit with certain unexpected charges

Manulife life insurance policies typically require 5-20 business days to process.

If you suffer from COVID-19 and pass away as a result, your loved ones will be able to obtain your death benefit if you have a Manulife life insurance policy in place.

Manulife travel insurance plans also temporarily included emergency medical benefits, but now, clients are required to purchase the Manulife COVID-19 pandemic travel plan. This will cover your COVID-19 medical expenses and quarantined benefits.

Get In Touch With Us Today!

If you’re interested in an insurance plan or company plan while also working on your personal wellbeing goals, working with a life insurance specialist can help you find the best insurance policy to suit your needs. At Protect Your Wealth, we’ve been providing expert advice for all types of life insurance since 2007. As your trusted Life Insurance broker and financial planner, we work with you to create a plan for your family or business that covers and meets your needs.

Contact Protect Your Wealth or call us at 1-877-654-6119 to talk to an advisor today. We’re proudly based out of Hamilton, and service clients anywhere in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario, including areas such as Toronto, Kitchener, Burnaby, Vancouver, Medicine Hat, and Red Deer.

Talk to an advisor today.

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