“Consumers who own an Apple Watch are being offered $1,000 of accidental death insurance coverage at no cost through a new program from popular health app Cardiogram and two major insurance providers,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider. “Launched on Thursday, the initiative grants Apple Watch owners guaranteed access to set-rate coverage provided by Amica Life and Greenhouse Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGAx). ”
“In addition to the $1,000 no-cost offer, users can upgrade to up to $500,000 of coverage for $9 to $41 per month,” Campbell reports. “Available to users living in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Wisconsin, the program is the latest development in a wider push to main-stream quantified self data, with health and life insurers now looking for ways to integrate data from wearable devices into their respective business models, according to Cardiogram co-founder Brandon Ballinger. ”
“Evidence of that shift is readily available. UnitedHealthcare in March added the Apple Watch Series 3 to its Motion program, an initiative lets people deduct $1,000 per year from their insurance premiums if they meet fitness goals,” Campbell reports. “Earlier this month John Hancock rolled out a similar plan when it expanded the Vitality “behavior change platform” to all life insurance policies.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: In general, preventative medicine is less expensive, less invasive, and produces better results than reactive medicine.
As we wrote back in September 2015:
Those who want to sit around, munching chips, while encasing themselves in growing rolls of fat should pay more for the costs brought on by their heart attacks, gout, diabetes, strokes, asthma, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, and cancer treatments.
Next we need a way for Apple Watch to detect smokers and charge them more, too. People who make the effort to be healthy, regardless of whether they actually are lucky enough to be healthy or not*, should pay less for their health insurance as they tax the system far less than those who are sedentary, obese and/or smoke. Just as life insurance costs more for those who live unhealthy lifestyles, their health insurance should cost more, too. (Life insurers should utilize Apple Watches in much the same way.)
*If a person is obese for reasons beyond a sedentary, unhealthy lifestyle, who is actively trying to be healthy as shown by their Apple Watch, but other conditions prevent fat loss (Hypothyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome, hormonal imbalances, Syndrome X, medications, etc.) they should get a lower rate than those who are simply leading sedentary, unhealthy lifestyles. Most cases of obesity are due to sedentary lifestyles and consuming more calories than required, not medical conditions.
Furthermore, people should have every right to sit around eating chips and smoking until they drop dead (unfortunately, it’s rarely that clean; they often first tax the health system to a great degree by developing diabetes, cancers, banging off a couple of heart attacks, having a stroke here and there, etc. before they finally make their exit) and insurance companies should have every right to charge them more since, overall, they cost far more to take care of due to their poor choice(s) which raises costs for those who are trying to take care of themselves and therefore cost the system far less.
If you’re fat because you sit around too much and take in more calories than you can possible burn off by sitting on your ass all day, don’t be offended. Either keep on as you’re doing and pay more to cover your increased costs or put down the chips, stand up and get moving! (You can thank us later by continuing to visit during the 10-20 extra years you’ll get by following our latter advice.)
SEE ALSO:
Apple and Aetna hold secret meetings to bring Apple Watch to the insurer’s 23 million members – August 14, 2017
In major win for Apple, Aetna becomes first insurance company to subsidize Apple Watch – September 27, 2016
New ‘SweatCoin’ iPhone app pays people to get fit – May 5, 2016
Why you’ll wear an Apple Watch to keep your job – March 14, 2016
Share your fitness data for an Apple Watch – or cash – March 2, 2016
Tim Cook hints Apple might build a health device – November 10, 2015
Apple should double down on Apple Watch’s health sensors, battery life, and waterproofing – October 2, 2015
Health insurer will charge more for lazy people, less for active people, based on Apple Watch sensors – September 18, 2015
In Ontario flu shots are free under our Ontario Health Insurance Plan as it is cheaper than treating people who get the flu.
That’s good to hear! A very sensible policy. Do what actually works and leads to reduced suffering and overall most benefit to everyone.
Imagine if U.S. healthcare covered the various emotional and psychological difficulties that may lead to the behavior MDN so condescendingly dismissed in its Take. That would save so much suffering and wasted productivity. Of course, it would sacrifice a cruel “your own bootstraps” philosophy for doing what actually works and is scientifically and economically supported. But, can’t let the overall public welfare get in the way of a good “piss on the poor” attitude, right?