MetLife trials blockchain-based automated health insurance solution

LumenLab, MetLife Asia’s Singapore-based innovation center, is testing a blockchain-based automated insurance solution.

Called “Vitana,” it is the first health insurance product using blockchain technology to trigger an automatic payout, MetLife said. It is intended to offer financial protection to pregnant women in case of gestational diabetes, without the need to make a claim.

The trial will run over a six-month period. LumenLab is working with the Singapore Medical Group Women’s Health and other select clinics to offer the solution to Singapore-based patients in their first 23 weeks of pregnancy.

The blockchain solution has been developed in collaboration with SwissRe, Cognizant, and Vault Dragon. It securely connects to customers’ electronic medical records via their mobile device to issue a policy within minutes. It triggers an automatic payout upon diagnosis, without the need to make a claim.

Furthermore, by performing parametric underwriting on customers’ mobile devices, Vitana offers customers improved data security as the insurance company would not require access to the underlying medical data to confirm insurability.

“We saw an opportunity to test how blockchain can make insurance more seamless and we’ve partnered with some of the best companies in their fields to create a blueprint to launch new parametric insurance products in the future,” said Zia Zaman, MetLife’s Chief Innovation Officer in Asia and Chief Executive Officer of LumenLab.

Vitana was developed within the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) regulatory sandbox, and was highlighted in MAS’ annual report as one of the key innovations to come out of the sandbox initiative.

“We are glad that the sandbox has enabled LumenLab to jumpstart an innovative experiment within safe boundaries, to understand if it could effectively address existing pain points of both the insured and insurer, before rolling it out on a broader scale,” said Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, MAS.

Vitana is now available on the App Store. Customers can download the app and receive up to SGD 2,500 coverage for medical expenses associated with gestational diabetes.