Health IQ rewards health-conscious people with cheaper life cover
Californian start-up Health IQ Insurance Services aims to persuade more US residents to become health conscious customers by offering tailored insurance coverage boasting lower costs. The company, which recently raised $34.6m in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, is licensed in all 50 states, and has spent years gathering medical data and research to prove to insurers that healthier people deserve reduced rates, securing $5.3bn in coverage over the past 22 months.

Health IQ Insurance Services, a startup focused on providing life insurance for -conscious individuals, said it has secured $34.6 million in Series C funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz.

To date, the company has raised a total of $81 million in funding mostly from its existing investors - Charles River Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Foundation Capital, First Round Capital, Felicis Ventures and Western Technology Investments.

Health IQ says its mission is to improve the health of the world by celebrating the health conscious people through financial rewards.

The company partners with insurance carriers such as SBLI, Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. and Assurity Life Insurance Co., and reinsurer partner Swiss Re to offer health conscious people between 4 percent and 33 percent lower rates on life insurance.

"We believe the best way to change the world's health is to celebrate the health conscious rather than harass the people who aren't. We are doing that celebration today with lower rates and better underwriting in life insurance," Munjal Shah, Co-Founder and CEO of Health IQ said.

Founded in 2013 by a team of health-conscious entrepreneurs, Health IQ is a licensed life insurance company in all 50 states. In 22 months, it has helped customers secure a total of $5.3 billion in insurance coverage.

Health IQ documents which individuals are health conscious and helps them to get lower rates and better coverage from insurance companies, thus rewarding the health conscious.

Health IQ has worked with carriers to develop better underwriting that takes into account unique factors related to the health conscious. For example, Body Mass Index or BMI does not differentiate between muscle and fat, resulting in weight lifters and athletic individuals being overcharged for their muscularity.

Health IQ said it has spent years gathering the science and big data to prove that the health conscious individuals deserve lower rates.

The data showed that persistent runners have a 50 percent lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, vegetarians have a 22 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer incidence, and higher muscular strength is associated with a 30 percent lower risk of cancer mortality.

Health IQ combined this medical research with its own proprietary research gleaned from the over 1 million people who took the Health IQ test launched by the company over three years ago. This research showed that health conscious individuals have a 41 percent lower mortality rate.

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