Why two insurance companies want to pay Hongkongers to work out

Insurers seek ways to make sure customers are fitter, and therefore healthier and less likely to make claims, in wake of data showing around half of Hong Kong adults don’t exercise enough

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Vivian Siu runs in Tsuen Wan Park. She says she would exercise more if facilities were nearer her home.

Published: 5:30am, 24 Dec 2015Updated: 2:27pm, 25 Dec 2015

In autumn and winter, Vivian Siu Yun-ki usually works out only two or three times a month and not at all in December. The 26-year-old postgraduate student used to jog outdoors in Canada, where she grew up, and says she would like to exercise more, but, having returned to Hong Kong a year ago, finds it isn’t so simple.

“You don’t just walk out the door and there’s a park right there … you have to either go to a running track, or a field, which is usually not nearby. So you have to bus there, you have to carry all your equipment, and most places do not offer facilities for you to shower and stuff. That’s a deterrent for me.”

Siu says if it could be just a little more convenient, or if she had an extra incentive,she would work out more. Two insurance companies, AIA and Manulife, have now introduced programmes that they say can target Hongkongers like Siu. The schemes reward you for exercising or having an active lifestyle, even if it just means walking several thousand steps a day. If you buy health insurance from AIA or Manulife, you can become a member of AIA Vitality or ManulifeMOVE, which give you discounts for staying active and tracking your physical activity with an app or a fitness tracker such as a Fitbit or a Misfit.

You have to bus there, you have to carry all your equipment, and most places do not offer facilities for you to shower

Vivian Siu

The AIA programme’s rewards include discounts at shops such as Market Place by Jason’s, and on services, such as Pure Fitness gyms and the city’s Ocean Park theme park, and free movie tickets from UA Cinemas.

Both insurers stress that the programmes target ordinary people rather than fitness fanatics, so rewards are not hard to achieve: ManulifeMOVE will give you 5 per cent off your health insurance premium if you just walk 5,000 steps a day, and 10 per cent off for walking 10,000 steps a day, and AIA Vitality gives you 10 per cent off just for becoming a member and buying an insurance plan under the scheme.

This is a new way of addressing an old problem: many people just aren’t getting enough exercise. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department conducted fitness tests on more than 13,000 Hongkongers for a report in November 2012 which showed almost one in two adults had a sedentary lifestyle. This suggested half the population engaged in 30 minutes or less of moderate physical activity a week.

A fitness class at Hong Kong Park in Central.

This finding was reinforced by an April 2014 survey commissioned by the Health Department and conducted by the University of Hong Kong’s Social Sciences Research Centre. The survey found that only 37.5 per cent of the more than 4,000 adult respondents met the physical activity levels recommended by the World Health Organisation – which is at least two-and-a-half hours of moderate aerobic activity a week.