Apple Launching 'AC Wellness' Medical Clinics for its Employees

[MysteriousStain]

Yeah many company have wellness as a perk, just Apple raise that up a notch, I don't know any other company who has dentist, physioterapist, Optometryst (did I said that right?) GP, Nutritionist, massages and so on.

Possibly AMEX from what I've heard

 

[falainber]

The future of everyday health really lies in the future of our smartphones and peripheral technology

Smartphone can't neither cure you nor keep you healthy.

 

[Kaibelf]

I have mixed feelings on this. I already feel my employer is too involved in my healthcare, and benefits get worse each year. I'm a relatively healthy person who exercises regularly and has generally very good 'numbers'. Many others aren't and pay much higher premiums as a result. My premiums didn't get any better when the company (or provider) started monitoring such things, but for many, they got much worse. Getting off topic. I'll stop now.

Perhaps the fact that your premiums didn't go up with others' did was the reward. Being in the top bracket doesn't necessarily mean you should get a discount, it just means you're not part of the risk pool they need to fix.
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It's unfortunate that the world's richest company is more focused on commodifying healthcare and turning it into a luxury good, than publicly throwing all it's weight behind a push to make healthcare a basic social infrastructure for all in the country.

Luxury good? Try employee perk. I don't see Starbucks giving me healthcare regardless of how often I buy coffee there. As for the rest, Apple doesn't manage the federal budget, Congress does.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Good move on Apple's part. In the long run, it will save them money.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

Luxury good? Try employee perk. I don't see Starbucks giving me healthcare regardless of how often I buy coffee there. As for the rest, Apple doesn't manage the federal budget, Congress does.

Which is why Congress and federal employees have Cadillac health care and the rest of us don't.............

 

[jonblatho]

So essentially Apple plans to use its employees as guinea pigs?

They always have. Why stop now?

 

[Niklas_nick]

We have something like this at my company. It offers services for minor illness/injuries, annual physicals, biometric screenings, behavioral health, wellness etc. I’m assuming that’s what Apple is doing. I’ll bet more companies start doing it.

To me it appears like Apple is stepping up their in-house occupational medicine department. I don't know the regulation in America, but in Europe, every company of a certain size is mandated to have a certain amount of doctors, nurses, health engineers. Most large companies go further than that and analyse workflows and workplaces to minimise injury and stress so their employees are more productive. It might be something like that, but there might be more to it with Apples many efforts in health since Steve died.

Hmmm… I realize this as a very very early test pilot for Apple dabbling into public health care coverage.

And it's not just Apple. Even Google and Amazon are doing it. Why are the largest/wealthiest tech companies doing it? Dabbling in health care services? One answer: because the government and traditional medical care institutions (HMOs, PPOs, Insurance companies) have failed the American people. Health care in the USA is terribly expensive, and coverage is spotty.

To be honest, I don't blame them (Apple, Amazon and other tech companies). They understand that when there is a need (for good affordable national health services), then there is a market, there is a future service industry that can be "sold".


Apple Is Joining Amazon and Warren Buffett in the Health Care Business

Company health insurers exclusive to employees and their families are quite common in Europe with larger firms but apparently not in America. With the developments around your administration and the healthcare system in general, large companies capable of doing so seem to look into setting up a similar system to be less dependent on public health and get their people covered better.

 

[mysticbluebmw]

We've had an employee health clinic in the county I work for years. This is nothing new, as it helps to lower insurance premiums by encouraging employees to be more proactive with their health and fitness....especially fitness. Getting things like body measurement and health screenings including cholesterol, and blood sugar tests, as well as attending employee health center programs, and connecting with various apps all help to give one a small discount on insurance pricing. If this is what Apple is now doing, then for a large corporate employer they are behind the times on this one. Welcome to the present Apple!

 

[Boatboy24]

Perhaps the fact that your premiums didn't go up with others' did was the reward. Being in the top bracket doesn't necessarily mean you should get a discount, it just means you're not part of the risk pool they need to fix.

Oh, my premiums went up. But if I fail to complete an annual biometric screening, certify that I and my household are smoke-free, and have a certain number of metrics within the 'good' zone, they'd go up a heck of a lot more.

 

[skinned66]

Good on them. I think this is a great use of some of that massive wealth.

 

[Osamede]

How is commodifying something turning it into a luxury good? Isn’t that an oxymoron?

Commodification
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with commoditization.
Commodification is the transformation of goods, services, ideas and people into commodities, or objects of trade. A commodity at its most basic, according to Arjun Appadurai, is "any thing intended for exchange," or any object of economic value.[1] People are commodified—turned into objects—when working, by selling their labour on the market to an employer.[2] One of its forms is slavery. Others are, the trading with animals and body parts through formalised or informalised organ transplant.[3]

Commodification is often criticised on the grounds that some things ought not to be treated as commodities—for example education, data, information and knowledge in the digital age.[4]