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Apple Watch Owners With UnitedHealthcare Can Earn Awards for Being Active
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Oh wow this is turning rapidly into a corporate medical dystopia. I don't think all the sci-fi writers managed to pick up on that one unless there was an episode of Black Mirror I missed.
Fortunately I'm in the UK so we have actual healthcare that doesn't require quite as abhorrent voodoo still. Wondering how long it's going to be before my additional private healthcare premium will be affected by how many star jumps I do in the morning.
Fortunately I'm in the UK so we have actual healthcare that doesn't require quite as abhorrent voodoo still. Wondering how long it's going to be before my additional private healthcare premium will be affected by how many star jumps I do in the morning.
Because if this continues unchecked, it could lead to (Muahahahahahaha!) vaccination!
Even without malicious intent, this program pays for itself with the information they can gather. Anything that gives you stuff in exchange for information isn’t free, it’s selling you information.
Which isn’t necessarily bad. If they’re not using it for anything other than determining the rewards and large aggregate studies to identify trends (without association to anyone’s identity), I wouldn’t be opposed. However asking a company not to utilize a gold mine of information to its fullest is a usually waste of time.
Which isn’t necessarily bad. If they’re not using it for anything other than determining the rewards and large aggregate studies to identify trends (without association to anyone’s identity), I wouldn’t be opposed. However asking a company not to utilize a gold mine of information to its fullest is a usually waste of time.
Holy **** there are a lot of tinfoil hats on here.
1) so don’t opt in
2) I send that information willingly to both private companies (Apple, Strava, Zwift), and healthcare studies already. If you don’t want to… see #1
3) why shouldn’t a company that pays for healthcare incentivize and promote a healthy lifestyle. If you don’t want to realize the incentive ….see #1
4) there are many models for this in car and home insurance, and somehow, we’re not required to opt in. It just rewards safe driving, and active smoke and CO alarms. But if you don’t want to participate…see #1
I honestly don’t know how you all sleep at night with the paranoia.
1) so don’t opt in
2) I send that information willingly to both private companies (Apple, Strava, Zwift), and healthcare studies already. If you don’t want to… see #1
3) why shouldn’t a company that pays for healthcare incentivize and promote a healthy lifestyle. If you don’t want to realize the incentive ….see #1
4) there are many models for this in car and home insurance, and somehow, we’re not required to opt in. It just rewards safe driving, and active smoke and CO alarms. But if you don’t want to participate…see #1
I honestly don’t know how you all sleep at night with the paranoia.
If you're using your company insurance...they're still going to raise your rates if a few people in your company has something that will need multiple surgeries or high cost procedures...
We had our Insurance open enrollment already for the year and the insurance person said the reason for the rate hike is because we paid out X this year in claims from people in your company.
Just don't trust them to try and deny something because of what my watch may or may not say and I'm a gym goer.
Just like I don't use those dongles to lower my car insurance
We had our Insurance open enrollment already for the year and the insurance person said the reason for the rate hike is because we paid out X this year in claims from people in your company.
Just don't trust them to try and deny something because of what my watch may or may not say and I'm a gym goer.
Just like I don't use those dongles to lower my car insurance
You seem confused about how insurance works. If everybody paid an insurance premium carefully and actuarially tied to their expected risks, that would not be insurance at all. That would end up being everybody just paying for their own health care if and when they need it. Which, sadly, is close to how the system actually works in this country. Being overweight creates clear measurable actuarial risks. So does working out. So does driving. So does flying. So does smoking. So does drinking alcohol. So do all kinds of activities. You have no idea how that fat person who irks you so minimizes risks elsewhere in their life.
No insurance is great, let's be real.
I've heard mixed things. Some say it's better, some say it's worse. But they have a larger network at least.
I'll tie my Apple Watch to my dog's collar and watch my hard work pay off
I just set this up and they only want access to a few things -- exercise minutes, sleep, steps and walking + running distance.
Your health insurance knows more about you from the claims filed on your behalf by your doctors.
Plus, once you earn the rewards you just shut off access in Apple Health app.
Anyway, I set this up, but unfortunately my plan has earnings capped at $300.
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Your health insurance knows more about you from the claims filed on your behalf by your doctors.
Plus, once you earn the rewards you just shut off access in Apple Health app.
Anyway, I set this up, but unfortunately my plan has earnings capped at $300.
\
Full disclosure: during the .com bust in 2001 to 2003, I worked for a doctor's office, doing demographics and insurance billing.
The sad part about a lot of posts in this thread about being worried about insurance companies getting your data should one opt into using this is that the insurance companies already have more data on you than you can imagine, just by visiting a doctor.
Not only does your insurance coverage have to be verified, but also details of what that coverage is, and the services covered by the doctor (including your data) has to be sent to those companies. They already have information on your name, age, weight, health conditions, and all other HIPAA protected PHI about you. Every single thing about your health has been referenced by ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes and sent to your insurance company for payout back to the physician or hospital for the services rendered. Oh, and all of that is with your knowledge, and consent, just by having the services rendered, as well as explained in the EOB you receive at the end of each month you are covered by that insurance company.
While I am not saying that this is no different (because it is), the fact that one is paranoid about such data going to the insurance company when you have been giving those same insurance companies more data than this ever would is absolutely hilarious. Those that are up in arms for this should really take a look at themselves in relationship to their insurance coverage, and if they are truly paranoid about data over their own health, then they should consider dropping their insurance coverage altogether, because obviously their data means more to them than their health.
BL.
The sad part about a lot of posts in this thread about being worried about insurance companies getting your data should one opt into using this is that the insurance companies already have more data on you than you can imagine, just by visiting a doctor.
Not only does your insurance coverage have to be verified, but also details of what that coverage is, and the services covered by the doctor (including your data) has to be sent to those companies. They already have information on your name, age, weight, health conditions, and all other HIPAA protected PHI about you. Every single thing about your health has been referenced by ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes and sent to your insurance company for payout back to the physician or hospital for the services rendered. Oh, and all of that is with your knowledge, and consent, just by having the services rendered, as well as explained in the EOB you receive at the end of each month you are covered by that insurance company.
While I am not saying that this is no different (because it is), the fact that one is paranoid about such data going to the insurance company when you have been giving those same insurance companies more data than this ever would is absolutely hilarious. Those that are up in arms for this should really take a look at themselves in relationship to their insurance coverage, and if they are truly paranoid about data over their own health, then they should consider dropping their insurance coverage altogether, because obviously their data means more to them than their health.
BL.
Isn’t it possible to fake this using the Shortcuts app to add exercises and steps to your health app?
The problem is one day the people getting the “discount” will be paying the regular rate and the people who don’t opt-in will be paying more. Insurance companies are weasels and I can’t wait until they are destroyed by universal healthcare.
Side note, because a lot of people point out Canada’s problem with universal healthcare wait times. I’ve read the primary reason for that is brain drain to the USA where we pay doctors several times as much because, you guessed it, so they don’t have as much talent staying in Canada. The US moving to universal healthcare would actually help out Canada and there isn’t anywhere that really pays better than the US that doctors would flee to. Although some may return to their home country. Anyway I just found that to be an interesting take that I hadn’t heard before that I wanted to share.
The problem is one day the people getting the “discount” will be paying the regular rate and the people who don’t opt-in will be paying more. Insurance companies are weasels and I can’t wait until they are destroyed by universal healthcare.
Side note, because a lot of people point out Canada’s problem with universal healthcare wait times. I’ve read the primary reason for that is brain drain to the USA where we pay doctors several times as much because, you guessed it, so they don’t have as much talent staying in Canada. The US moving to universal healthcare would actually help out Canada and there isn’t anywhere that really pays better than the US that doctors would flee to. Although some may return to their home country. Anyway I just found that to be an interesting take that I hadn’t heard before that I wanted to share.
In the hypothetical presented, a "clean bill of health" wasn't given by the doctor - due to the qualifier - and the patient holds a different "ideal of health" than the doctor.
Come back when you can fulfill my original quesiton: define a "clean bill of health" in terms which don't involve "some persons ideal of health"
Yet high risk drivers who make poor driving decisions pay higher car insurance premiums than low risk drivers. It doesn't work that way for health insurance. Thanks for the "lesson".
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Getting blood work results back and everything is in the normal range, having blood pressure that is consistently in the normal range for your age group, not being grossly overweight. The aforementioned items are part of what constitutes a clean bill of health from a medical standpoint. I can't imagine you don't already know this.
Yes, it's safe to say that all your healthcare interactions are already logged, stored, analyzed. Wellness visits (or lack thereof), urgent care visits, lab tests (routine and diagnostic), prescriptions filled (and their frequency, are you taking your meds like you're supposed to?), vaccinations (flu, pneumonia, tetanus, whatever), and pretty much any other contacts you have with the medical establishment.
My employer uses a third party app for incentives; one can "earn" HSA contributions for different stuff. As someone who is active, I have no issue letting it get my steps and active-minutes from Apple Health. It also has other earning mechanisms involving reading education materials and so on, so there's opportunity for inactive people to get the same HSA contributions. Pretty tame.
As for the "evil insurance companies" let's not pretend the nationalized healthcare organizations aren't also faced with increasing costs and limited budgets, leading them to looking for ways to encourage a healthier population / discourage unhealthy behaviors:
... and lest we forget this from a few years ago:
Obese people and smokers 'banned from routine surgery' as NHS attempts to cut spending costs
Not sure you understood my point, please go back to the prior posts to get the context of the post you quoted.
You're mentioning objective measures - which are different from the original statement "paying for health based on some persons ideal of health" to which I responded.
Oh I understand your point. You just prefer to remain unsatisfied, regardless of the information being presented to you. Anyway, have a great day!
Oh but I really do understand. "...define a "clean bill of health" in terms which don't involve "some persons ideal of health". What I've mentioned are not 'some persons' ideal of health, they are metrics of what constitutes a person being in ideal health per the medical community's standards, in the US anyway. Standards which are based off of decades of extensive research. It's not like Doctor Bob in Tulsa mentioned these items as being the criteria for a person being in good health and we all ran with it.
How can it be illegal? It’s a voluntary program. They aren’t forcing anyone to do it. They are offering an incentive, on a voluntary basis, to lead a healthier lifestyle and get a benefit from it. UnitedHealthcare has been doing this for years through their annual biometric screening which offers a similar benefit and is also completely voluntary.