Asteron has introduced a major new initiative into the Australian life insurance market, and potentially into the broader Australian community, with the launch of its Asteron Life! wellbeing program.
The online program, which is open to new and existing clients, advisers and their support staff and all Asteron employees, offers tools and resources that will provide participants with their own tailored nutrition, exercise and lifestyle plans.
Asteron Life! also offers incentives to clients to improve the quality of their health and lifestyle and to stay healthy.
[Asteron Life!]… is a new avenue through which the client can become engaged by both their adviser and their insurer
What makes this initiative stand out is its potential to enhance the traditional relationship that exists between the life company and its policy holders and between the adviser and his/her clients. It is a new avenue through which the client can become engaged by both their adviser and their insurer.
Asteron Life! aims to help its members achieve better health by providing:
- Information on health and wellbeing by medical experts
- Simple principles by which to live, including recipes, tips on nutrition and activities to incorporate into daily life
- Step by step programs to help members reach their goals
- Tools, calculators and a ‘wellness record’ to monitor progress
One of the major incentives for clients is the opportunity for premium loading reductions for those who achieve their tailored wellbeing goals set out in the program.
An example of this would be where a client has received a premium loading due to a high body mass index (BMI) reading. After 12 months on the Asterin Life! wellbeing program, the client may become eligible to have their loading removed if their BMI has reduced to a more acceptable level and they can demonstrate sustained weight loss.
Asteron General Manager, Jordan Hawke, said “Asteron recognises that we have a real opportunity to make a difference to the lives of Australians so we are shifting the focus from life insurance being a purely transactional arrangement with customers, to becoming partners in their future good health,”
We have a moral and ethical obligation to change the way we underwrite and accept business
Rather than simply placing a client on its books and then waiting for a claim to be submitted at some point in the future, Mr Hawke said, “We have a moral and ethical obligation to change the way we underwrite and accept business.” ”How can we ignore what we see every day of the week?” said Mr Hawke.
Coinciding with the launch of Asteron Life! is a new Asteron website, including links to the Asteron Life! program.
This initiative may prove to be a key differentiator for Asteron in the market place because of the additional engagement and value it potentially offers between advisers, clients and Asteron itself.
Asteron encourages involvement from all its stakeholders, in what it sees as an opportunity to change existing paradigms and reposition the experience of life insurance as something that can positively impact people now, as well as at claim time.
