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Aetna to Provide Apple Watch to 50,000 Employees, Subsidize Cost for Customers
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Have to agree with the OP on this point. There is absolutely NO possibility that this an attempt to "help customers". That's not how corporations work. They are required by law (fiduciary duty) to maximize profit for shareholders. They don't spend ANY money that doesn't further this goal. When you see a sign in Target that they "donate 5% to the community", etc - that has been carefully calculated to maximize profits. The combination of tax write-off and increased sales from customer goodwill create a net positive for the company. In this case Aetna may be looking at a variety of profit potentials: less expense from healthcare payments if the AW makes some customers healthier; more income from premiums if, as the OP suggests, they find grounds for increasing premiums; or increase in subscriber base from people signing up just for the "free" watch, etc.
Whatever the mechanism, the AW giveaway has been calculated to increase profits. Don't ever ascribe altruism to a corporation.
The next step after buying it is to get active. The watch won't do that for your, silly beans!
They don't give you anything and it's not free. It's a subsidy meaning they let you purchase it at a discount because of their ability to work a deal with Apple on the cost
Please, elaborate. Go ahead. Are you under the impression there is going to be a custom version of WatchOS and iOS released to just Aetna with the entire engineering scheme reworked to allow a third party to siphon data?
Do you really think Apple went through millions of dollars in software engineering for this? Really?
Or do you have no idea how the security features of iOS and WatchOS work?
I'm gonna guess the latter.
That's pretty awesome. I have Aetna now but may be switching to an employer that uses Blue Cross :/
Gotta love the tin foil hat crowd. Insurance companies already have a crap load of information on people. If my insurance company offered me incentives or discounts if I walked so many miles in a day or burned x number of calories I would have no problem giving them my watch data. You want people to get healthy you have to provide incentives. This would be one way.
Right... it's a marketing tool. When you sign up with Aetna, you'll likely sign some sort of time commitment contract in exchange for receiving the watch and they'll recoup the costs within a few months, and then some. If you cancel early, you'll probably pay the difference for the watch.
There are other health insurance providers, albeit ones partially subsidized via the government, that offer new customers a $200 "sign on" bonus. The customer is locked into that health insurance provider for a month or two, and they're free to go. The customer gets their $200 gift, the insurance company receives money from the government, and us taxpayers pay for it.
Aetna isnt using some sort of modified version of iOS and as far as I know, apple watch doesnt have any enterprise system where some IT department can control whats on the watch. You get the watch, you restore it fresh, and no data goes to Aetna.
edit: looks like @NT1440 already posted a similar thing before I hit submit.
My goodness liberals sure are miserable people. You know corporations can provide benefits to consumers and "maximize profits" at the same time. It's not a zero sum game.
And you missed the point entirely of this article. Aetna is promoting health through monitoring and wellness, with the encouragement through the Apple Watch. A company such as Aetna, is investing in their employee's. Try not to skim the article and read through next time.
Exactly. It's in their best interests to keep you healthy so they can keep more of your money. If they can do that by offering a product that people want, at a discount, that provides motivation to move more and COULD lead to a healthier lifestyle, why wouldn't they? It doesn't cost them anything to use their bargaining power to get Apple to knock a few bucks off if bought through the proper channels.
Does Aetna get access to any of the information from the watch? Because the only reason an insurance provider wants more of your health info is to screw you with it later.
The next step after buying it is to get active. The watch won't do that for your, silly beans!
Yep. I just hope people know that the watch won't motivate you to get active all by itself. If you're not already trying, this alone probably isn't going to get you excited to do it. I think certain extreme Apple fanboys like Jim Dalrymple needed it to be true so bad that he went right ahead and lost 40 pounds with it. But that's not going to be the case for most sedentary people like myself.
Aetna do not have access to your data... the reason they are doing this is because:
Seems like smart business to me.
- It gets them free advertising
- It gets people talking about Aetna (except us Brits because we have the glorious NHS)
- It gets them new customers
- It retains older customers
- Apple Watch is proven to get unfit people motivated to get moving - customers who are fitter are less likely to be claiming on their health insurance - saving millions of dollars in payments.
Seems like smart business to me.
I think it's cool and all that Aetna is giving AWs to its employees.
But- and not to get too political here- paying for roughly fifty thousand AWs amounts to $13.4 million dollars, assuming the cheapest model at $269. This after Aetna just pulled out of 70% of ACA coverage areas this summer.
I bet some of those people who Aetna terminated service for would have benefited from health care coverage using just a portion of that $13.4 million they're generously ponying up.
But- and not to get too political here- paying for roughly fifty thousand AWs amounts to $13.4 million dollars, assuming the cheapest model at $269. This after Aetna just pulled out of 70% of ACA coverage areas this summer.
I bet some of those people who Aetna terminated service for would have benefited from health care coverage using just a portion of that $13.4 million they're generously ponying up.
While I agree with your profit motive statements and being wary of any company offering free stuff, I have to disagree on your overall take. Aetna will only have access to this info if you use their apps. Which I'm sure they will do everything to make you want to use them. For just this reason I never use any apps other than the Apple designed apps on my watch. Until proven otherwise I accept that Apple says my info is my info.
That said, the glass is half full agruement could be that Apple has provided Aetna with some generalized info that shows wearing the Apple Watch may actually change habits enough to increase your overall health, thus saving Aetna money on insurance claims....maybe.
Just because you wear an Apple Watch doesn't mean you're using it for any health-related activity, with apps provided by Apple or Aetna. So this opens up the really important question. If as a customer of Aetna they give you a discounted watch, do they have any specific expectations on how you use it, or are they just hoping you will?
And along with the new Apple Watch is a new insurance app - it delivers a small amount of electrical current to the wrist every time you contemplate eating cake, smoking, drinking, watching television or having unprotected sex. Don't worry, the shocks don't hurt, but the adjustment to your premiums will.
I got my Apple Watch in a kind of similar way. My work offers us a $450 health incentive once per year for fitness tracking. We can spend it on whatever we want, but I bought the Apple Watch upfront with a $100 gift card and my own cash, then later in the year got paid the $450. In the end, I only paid $100 out of pocket for my 42mm SS ML. They also offer half off Fitbits via a rebate submission, so I got like $80 off my wife's Charge HR (she's on my insurance because she's self-employed). Not a bad deal. Hopefully in the future they can offer direct discounts on the Apple Watch itself. I'll be getting my payment for this year again soon. I was tempted to use it towards a Series 2, but I think I'm going to hold off and see what the rumored new iPad Pro 2 10.5" or whatever is going to have. Or maybe put it towards a freaking iMac if they ever update those.