John Hancock and MIT AgeLab team up to study, improve longevity

In a continuing effort to understand how the world’s increasingly aging population can live better and healthier lives – and how it can possibly profit from the knowledge – John Hancock has entered into a five-year, multimillion dollar collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s AgeLab, which researches longevity issues.

Hancock, with its parent company, Toronto-based Manulife, is arguably a leader or early adopter among life insurers of “wellness programs” that educate, encourage, and reward policyholders to live longer and healthier lives. The company said its alliance with MIT will explore the future of “longevity innovation, developing research, thought leadership and workshops with the goal of driving actionable insights for the business community, policyholders, individuals, and families.”

Hancock President and CEO Brooks Tingle said the collaboration with MIT fits nicely with the goals the insurer made years ago with its “Vitality” program to empower sustained health and wellbeing of their customers.

“Of all the people who care about you living a long and healthy life, your insurance company is right at the top of that list,”John Hancock CEO Brooks Tingle

“Of all the people who care about you living a long and healthy life, your insurance company is right at the top of that list,” Tingle said during a recent media tour of the MIT AgeLab to announce the collaboration. “A lot of companies say they have their customers’ best interests in mind but it’s not always true. But I can assure you in our insurance and our wealth and asset management business, our interests with our customers are totally aligned. Living longer and healthier reduces claims and increases retirement savings.”

The data on the world’s aging population are stark. The World Economic Forum has said that by 2050, the number of people aged over 60 is expected to double to 2.1 billion. Yet, one-fifth of an individual’s life, on average, is now expected to be lived with morbidity or in a state of illness.

This global trend of lives getting longer but not healthier is a widening gap, Hancock said, as socioeconomic and environmental disparities expand at the national and global level, and the need for action to address what is already a major longevity crisis increases.

“We typically think of aging as a medical problem,” said MIT AgeLab founder and director Dr. Joseph Coughlin, author of “The Longevity Economy.” That’s not incorrect but it’s incomplete. It’s an engineering problem and a technology problem and, of course, a financial problem.”

Coughlin said the union with Hancock will provide a new way of looking at and working with longevity. He said the central piece of research, which it expects to unveil early next year, will be a longevity preparedness index measuring the readiness of Americans from every generation to live a longer, healthier, and better life; and provide data-driven insights for maximizing financial planning, health and wellness habits, work and retirement transition planning, housing choices, end-of-life planning, and technological advances that support critical health and financial needs at each step of the aging process.

“This index will qualitatively and quantitatively look at the key pillars of longevity,” the company said in a release. “The index will glean insights on how Americans are preparing for 100 good years – it will inform what we at John Hancock can do next for our customers and we hope the insights will also be leveraged by organizations across the private and public sectors.”

High-tech tools and toys

During a tour of the AgeLab, Coughlin and company showed off the high-tech tools and toys the lab’s researchers are using to probe all aspects of aging and longevity. Included was a sophisticated and real-life automobile simulator that can measure how people react and respond to varying driving situations, a spacesuit-like outfit that simulates elderly conditions and reflexes to foster researchers with insights and empathy about old age, and a home equipped with new and budding technological devices to aid, measure, and comfort older inhabitants.

“We’re really looking at how technology can enable us to stay in our homes longer,” said Coughlin. “We can imagine a home is not just a place to live but also an entire platform of services that keep you connected to family, monitor your health, and provide you with entertainment, and worthwhile company.”

Coughlin pointed to an increasing demand for subscription and technology services that will do everything from keeping you company, to reminding you to take medications and to exercise, and keep tabs on your behavior and notify care givers and emergency services if needed.

“It’s not just a reminder for you to turn off the stove but it will manage, monitor and motivate healthy behaviors,” Coughlin said. “And from a financial standpoint it’s not just about costs.  Life by app is not on anyone’s cost projections. It’s a whole new line item in retirement overall.”

Hancock’s Tingle said Boston is a natural place to start its exploration of longevity readiness, and its focus at the end of its five-year partnership will be to have a global understanding of the longevity ecosystem worldwide.

“We share a mutual perspective that Boston – much like Silicon Valley is a hub of tech innovation – is the ideal hub for longevity.”

Doug Bailey is a journalist and freelance writer who lives outside of Boston. He can be reached at [email protected].

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Doug Bailey is a journalist and freelance writer who lives outside of Boston. He can be reached at [email protected].