“Bloomberg‘s Adam Satariano has an interesting profile out this morning regarding the usage of wearable fitness devices in work environments,” Mark Gurman reports for 9to5Mac. “The report says that some companies are offering devices, such as the FitBit, in order to track the fitness of its employees. With that information, companies are able to slice costs off of insurance plans if employees hit certain fitness data thresholds.”
Gurman reports, “The companies, of course, have to partner up with insurance providers to make this happen. Interestingly for Apple users, Bloomberg’s report says that Apple has talked with two of the United States’s largest insurance providers in regards to HealthKit.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Side note tirade:
Mark Gurman is NOT talking about ‘United Healthcare’, who is a different and profoundly crooked healthcare company, IMHO of course, based on the remarkable number of pending victim lawsuits against them, their buying off AARP’s recommendation, as well as the State of New York refusing to work with them.
I’d have preferred if Mark had stated ‘UnitedHealth Group’ instead.
The tech sector is ill informed when it comes to this topic. Tech will not solve the healthcare issues in this country. Obama’s plan has worked by all measures. But what is really need is serious reform opt the healthcare industry. health kit is clever, but having a single method of records interchange is what is really needed. And that is not coming anytime soon..
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that this will empower you.
This information can be used against you without the proper protections in place. Sadly, they are not.
Today we get a discount by meeting thresholds for providing data. Tomorrow we get a discount by meeting thresholds for hitting goals. Sounds like Common Core fitness tracking for workers. Yet another reason to move away from employer provided health coverage.
In “Right to Work” states like Florida, any employee not meeting “fitness goals” can be summarily fired. And since that’s “for cause,” the former employee may not be eligible for unemployment benefits.
Monday Office Gossip: “I saw Bart sneak a cigarette after lunch Friday.”
Tuesday Office Gossip: “Hey, did you know Bart got fired this morning?”
Every company on the planet will purchase iWatches for their employees. It’s a “no-brainer”. Look at this scenario – employee hurts back on the job and needs surgery. This will cost a company a lot of money even with workman’s comp. But, low and behold, the iWatch detected the employee was legally drunk at the time of the accident. This one incident just paid for about 300 or more iWatches. Now, add in health insurance cost reductions and 40-60 million iWatches will be sold in 2015.
Allowing your personal health data to be given to insurance companies seems less than prudent to me.