The Vitality most customers know is the one that rewards them for going to the gym, walking more, driving safely, or making other healthy choices. There are discounts, benefits, and incentives along the way. But that is only the part of Vitality that customers see.
Behind the rewards is an insurance model that uses behaviour, data, and risk management to influence how insurance businesses perform. It has also grown into a substantial business in its own right.
In Discovery’s financial results for the year to the end of June 2026, the Vitality composite produced normalised operating profit of R3.88 billion, up 21%. New business annualised premium income increased 3% to R8.62bn.
In June 2026, Vitality covered 3.46 million lives in South Africa across Vitality Health, Vitality Drive, and Vitality Money, up from 3.16 million a year earlier.
Outside South Africa, VitalityHealth in the United Kingdom covered 1.08 million lives and VitalityLife 1.01 million, while Vitality Global Markets covered another 9.78 million. Together, the international Vitality businesses covered just under 12 million lives, up 14%.
In China, Ping An Health Insurance (PAHI), of which Discovery owns 24.99%, had 35.4 million insured lives, up 10%.
The numbers also show that this is not one uniform business. VitalityHealth’s profit rose sharply, VitalityLife delivered strong new-business growth, PAHI continued to add customers but saw new business decline, Global Markets was hit by Japanese economic conditions, and Vitality AI increased its losses.
So, what exactly is making money here?
The rewards are only part of the model
Vitality itself also generates a direct revenue stream.
In South Africa, Discovery Vitality receives monthly contributions from Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS) members who activate the Vitality Wellness programme through various product integrations. Those membership fees increased from R2.331bn to R2.534bn in the year to June. Closed medical schemes contributed another R149 million.
At Group level, Discovery reported R5.619bn in Vitality income, compared with R5.322bn a year earlier. Of this, R4.018bn was recognised over time and R1.601bn at a point in time.
But the bigger part of the model is inside the insurance businesses.
Discovery’s annual financial statements say that integration across its products attracts healthier-than-average lives, and engagement in Vitality supports an improved risk experience. They also say policyholders’ Vitality status directly influences the claims, lapse, and premium assumptions used to value insurance contract assets and liabilities.
In other words, Vitality can affect the financial performance of the insurance businesses in addition to generating membership income of its own. If members change their behaviour and that results in fewer claims, better retention, or a different risk profile, those effects feed into the assumptions used to value the insurance business.
Discovery says behaviour change generated R2.2bn in claims savings across the group during 2026 financial year. It says engaged Discovery Life clients add an average six years to their lives compared with non-engaged members, engaged Discovery Insure clients experience 74% lower road-fatality rates, and DHMS members have a 17.7% lower cost per benefit unit than members of its competitors.
That is the shared-value proposition in the numbers: customers are rewarded for changing behaviour, while Discovery gets the benefit through membership income, and where the behaviour changes the underlying risk, through the economics of its insurance businesses.
The rewards sit inside insurance businesses
The international businesses make the model easier to see.
VitalityHealth and VitalityLife are insurance businesses, not rewards programmes sitting alongside insurance.
VitalityHealth’s earned premiums increased 12% in sterling to £909m, while operating profit rose 65% to £83.6m. In rand terms, profit increased 60% to R1.896bn. The business ended the year with 1.08 million covered lives.
VitalityLife’s earned premiums increased 15% to £514m, while operating profit increased 27% to £34.5m, or R782m. New business annualised premium equivalent increased 25% to £111.1m, with lives covered increasing 12% to 1.01 million.
The two businesses are also subject to the capital requirements that apply to insurers. VitalityHealth and VitalityLife are regulated under the Solvency UK regime. In June 2026, VitalityHealth had a Solvency Capital Requirement of £127m and a 1.9-times cover ratio. VitalityLife’s requirement was £451m, also with 1.9-times cover.
The rewards may be the part of the proposition that customers notice, but the businesses behind them have premiums, claims, underwriting, and capital requirements like other insurers.
The 2026 results also show that profit growth and new-business economics do not always move together.
Profit and new business
VitalityHealth had a strong year on the profit line.
Operating profit increased 60% in rand terms, helped by premium growth and a favourable claims experience. Its operating margin increased from 6.2% to 9.2%.
The value of new business after the cost of required capital fell 19% to R494m, from R609m. New business annualised premium equivalent increased 7% to R2.733bn, while the annualised profit margin fell from 3.1% to 2.5%.
VitalityLife’s new business annualised premium equivalent increased 20% to R2.519bn, while the value of new business after the cost of required capital rose from R34m to R403m. Its annualised profit margin increased from 0.2% to 2.3%.
Ping An adds another layer of scale
Discovery has held a 24.99% stake in PAHI since 2009, with the Vitality programme incorporated into the business since 2012.
PAHI now has 35.4 million insured lives, up 10%. Discovery’s share of PAHI’s after-tax operating profit increased 9% to R1.317bn. PAHI’s own profit before investment income and gains increased 21% to RMB1.695bn, while earned premiums rose 9% to RMB19.323bn.
New business was weaker. PAHI’s new business fell 6% in renminbi terms, while Discovery’s 25% share fell 10% to R2.723bn. Discovery says the decline followed the discontinuation of distribution of the core eShengBao product range through the Ping An Life channel. Other channels and stronger retention partly offset this, with renewal premiums helping earned-premium growth.
The customer numbers continued to rise despite the decline in new business.
PAHI’s insured lives increased to 35.4 million, and Discovery says the growth reflected stronger customer acquisition through product innovation and deeper integration of health and wellness services.
From insurance partnerships to a global network
Discovery says the Vitality model was active in 36 countries with more than 50 million members during the year. Its Global Vitality Network includes partnerships with insurers such as AIA, Ping An, Sumitomo, John Hancock, and Manulife, alongside Discovery’s wholly owned UK business.
During the year, Vitality completed its transition to a regionalised operating model, with the UK serving as a “centre of excellence”. Vitality Network and Vitality Health International Other were combined into Vitality Global Markets, with the business focused on expanding partnerships, strengthening distribution and deploying capabilities across markets.
Global Markets itself was weaker on the reported numbers.
Normalised operating profit fell 29% to R186m, largely because of adverse Japanese macro-economic effects. A revaluation related to the Japanese yen and higher Japanese interest rates produced a negative US$11.6m impact, compared with a US$4m gain in the previous year. Excluding those economic effects, Discovery says profit increased 115%.
Integrated new business through insurance partners increased 10%, even as reported revenue declined. Vitality says it is also expanding beyond traditional insurance partnerships, including opportunities with health systems and governments.
In the United States, VitalityHealth USA increased revenue 22% and ended the year with 3.6 million covered members. It has been building its capabilities through a series of acquisitions.
WellSpark, acquired in November 2024, is a personalised coaching and disease-prevention business and contributed to improved financial performance. Ramp Health, acquired in March 2026, expanded the business’s coaching, clinical and workplace-health capabilities. After year-end, VitalityHealth USA completed the acquisition of Icario, which covers 11 million lives and is expected to accelerate and complement its capability in the government-sponsored market.
VitalityHealth USA also increased its health-plan footprint to 10 health plans while continuing to deploy Vitality AI-enabled engagement solutions.
The next investment is AI
Discovery’s investment in Vitality AI accelerated during the year, with applications across customer engagement, healthcare, underwriting and operational processes.
The financial statements group Vitality AI and other central Vitality costs together. That line recorded a loss of R299m, compared with a loss of R89m in the previous year.
VitalityHealth generated R1.896bn, VitalityLife R782mi, and Discovery’s share of PAHI’s profit was R1.317bn. Global Markets contributed R186m, while the AI and central-cost line remained loss-making.
Discovery says the Vitality model affected approximately 54 million lives globally during the year. Members completed 725 million healthy activities, and the group estimates that the model contributed to 5.2 million life years saved globally. It also says R17.2bn was returned to clients through its shared-value dividend.
There is membership-fee income in South Africa, insurance revenue and claims experience in the UK, a 24.99% interest in a major Chinese health insurer, partnerships across multiple markets and an expanding technology operation.
The 2026 results show how far Vitality has moved from a rewards programme: it now spans insurance businesses, a major Chinese investment, a global network, and an increasingly important technology operation.
Discovery has built a much bigger business around an idea that started with rewarding people for changing their behaviour. The next phase will be about how effectively it can scale all those pieces together.
