Vitality Health and Life Insurance

United Kingdom based company

Vitality is a United Kingdom based company offering private health insurance and life insurance to the UK market. It has approximately 1.7 million members (June 2023 figures). The company is a subsidiary of Discovery Limited, a South Africa based financial services group listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). As well as Vitality in the UK, Discovery Group has other subsidiaries in South Africa, the United States, China, Singapore, and Australia.

Vitality uses a business model known as Shared Value Insurance. Shared Value is a concept created by Professor Michael E. Porter and Mark Kramer of Harvard Business School. They describe it as “policies and operating practices that enhance the competitiveness of a company while simultaneously advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities in which it operates. Shared value creation focuses on identifying and expanding the connections between societal and economic progress." Vitality’s Shared Value business model has been used as a case study within academic courses for institutions such as University of Cambridge, Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania. It has also received coverage in the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative, and prominent media forums, such as the Wall Street Journal and The Economist.

The Vitality Programme is a health promotion programme designed to incentivise improved lifestyle habits. Customers are then offered a range of rewards and discounts, designed to encourage long term adoption.

The company was created in 2004 when Discovery and Prudential launched the PruHealth brand in the UK, combining Prudential's UK distribution capability with Discovery's Vitality product that had already been launched to the market in South Africa. In April 2010, Discovery acquired Standard Life Healthcare, formed in 1994 following the acquisition of Prime Health Limited, and merged it with its PruHealth. In November 2014, Discovery bought the remaining 25% stake in PruHealth from Prudential, making Discovery the sole owner of the company. Discovery immediately re branded PruHealth as VitalityHealth, and its sister company PruProtect as VitalityLife, both under the Vitality umbrella brand.