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Discovery / Vitality business method patents

Vitality Program

Ever wondered what Discovery patented for its VITALITY rewards system? This simple business method:

1. load members with default opt-in to a rewards scheme;
2. receive insurance premium payments and contributions from members;
3. provide a health service / a contribution to health service costs to members;
4. for each insurance plan, define available health facilities and health services;
5. monitor use of the facilities or services by members, and allocate credits to members based on use;
6. reward members where their credits exceed a predetermined value.

Discovery VITALITY even patented monitoring members' use of health-related facilities / services - the end-goal being to charge a re-activation fee if under-utilised.

First Vitality patented "defaulting" members to opt-in to Vitality (for an activation fee); then Vitality patents monitoring Vitality usage to charge a re-activation fee upon "under-use" … below a use-hurdle "floated" by Vitality.

Great business method. Eminently patentable!

(US8131570)

Discovery Life

This DISCOVERY LIFE method makes so little sense, it had to be patentable:

1. monitor claims from a member's health plan;
2. monitor the well-being of the member; and
3. use the information annually to re-calculate the life insurance premium payable by the member.

Let's run through this again; slowly this time: members take out life insurance policies to cover their families in the event of terminal illness; but when they get sick / receive treatment, their premiums automatically increase! Members insure themselves to cover the risk of death; and Discovery covers the risk of you dying by automatically increasing premiums at the first sign of illness.

Who's getting insured here?

(US7908156)

Discovery Car Insurance

DISCOVERY's CAR INSURANCE scheme was premised on a trite basalt foundation:

"Drivers of poor health are more likely to have accidents than drivers in good health."

Unfortunately, this patent encountered a nay-sayer in the Australian Patent Office, which refused the following patent claim:

1. receive driver performance data (including whether the driver turns the vehicle without indicating);
2. receive wellness programme compliance data; and
3. award points based on the data, and determine a reward based on the points.

Which fundamental concept will be questioned next? That "People are not wearing enough hats"?

(AU2016203599)