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UnitedHealthcare Offering Insured Members Free Year of Apple Fitness+

Most physicians I have heard talk about UnitedHealthcare don't have much good to say about them. Maybe they should give all of their subscribers a free titanium Apple Watch 6! I'm sure it would help some of their victims, I mean extorted customers and businesses to feel better about their insurance plan cost... (But, chances are that if they did do this, you would have to agree to never drop their insurance, and would see a rate hike)
 
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TheOneWhoKnocks said:
Motivation I get when I wake up and look in a bathroom mirror. People have no shame these days, broadcasting their weakness left and right. This is absolutely unacceptable.
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Why? You broadcast yours. We all do. We all want to be better than we are, some just want to commiserate with others, and seek outside validation, purpose and support. Some are proud of what they can accomplish too, and want to show people what they can do. *shrug* Don't like it, don't do it. Works like that for a lot of things.
 
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contacos said:
what does that have to do with Fitness+? They are showing and coaching you how to do certain work outs correctly. It is not like you subscribe to a guy telling you to get up in the morning to go running
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Our culture went real south by loving and accepting obesity. Promoting it everywhere and being ok with fat in general. The problem is that the motivation won't be the same. Apple should have a nutrition+ program first, then fitness.
 
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deeddawg said:
Sorta happening already - my company gives a health insurance discount if you accumulate enough points in Virgin Pulse every quarter, which happens with step counts and informational quizes and logging workouts via fitness tracker or smartwatch.

So effectively - the less active (or those who don't log their activities) pay a higher rate.
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Do you work for HP or does another company use that as well?
 
PinkyMacGodess said:
Most physicians I have heard talk about UnitedHealthcare don't have much good to say about them. Maybe they should give all of their subscribers a free titanium Apple Watch 6! I'm sure it would help some of their victims, I mean extorted customers and businesses to feel better about their insurance plan cost... (But, chances are that if they did do this, you would have to agree to never drop their insurance, and would see a rate hike)
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I wasn’t a huge fan when I had them. Expensive and had a lot of errors with billing I didn’t have with any other insurance with the same doctors. Much preferred when I had health net hmo years ago before all of the mergers and acquisition
 
atomwork said:
Our culture went real south by loving and accepting obesity. Promoting it everywhere and being ok with fat in general. The problem is that the motivation won't be the same. Apple should have a nutrition+ program first, then fitness.
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No. Our society went sideways when we got away from real food. Antibiotics and hormones in most food etc. one study I read is because of all of this the average American today eating the same exact diet with the same level of activity as someone in the 1950s would weigh on average 12 pounds more. The combination of this plus higher consumption of HFCS vs sugar (although neither is good for you) in combination with lower levels of activity (no recess no pe less kids in sports because they are dangerous) and you have skyrocketing obesity. I think the promotion of it is more a coping mechanism and the result not the cause of things going sideways.
 
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yaxomoxay said:
A few weeks ago I was looking at some pictures from the 1970's and early 1980's on some photo group. Photos of beaches, streets, carnivals, etc. I couldn't literally spot a single morbidly obese person, and I couldn't spot many obese individuals (or, at least so obese you can see it). I just wonder what happened between now and then because now it's almost difficult to see people in decent shape.
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think about this. during those times you had households where only one person was working for income and the other was taking care of home duties. one big duty being cooking and making nutritious meals. furthermore, you had jobs that also had strict start and stop times (no computers) so when you got home, your job was done and you can focus on being active with your family. at the same time, we had fast food chains starting to take off offering more convivence since parents have less time to cook, and you start to enter into the super size me phase. take a look at what an acceptable dinner was in 1970's and the portion size compared to today. you also have the FDA telling you that you should be eating carbs and processed grains (white bread, rice, cereal) as the most amount of of your calories. Remember how many Americans would eat sugary cereals in the morning with their family?

...do this for 5-10-15-20 years and of course you are going to have a problem on a large scale.
 
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burgman said:
No obvious way to know? If only large companies had an HR dept or employee 800 number to ask benefit questions...
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No obvious way to know by just looking at what health insurance product you have or seeing who your health insurance provider is. That was the context of the person’s original question. Of course you can call your benefits department if you’re not sure.
 
DblHelix said:
No. Our society went sideways when we got away from real food. Antibiotics and hormones in most food etc. one study I read is because of all of this the average American today eating the same exact diet with the same level of activity as someone in the 1950s would weigh on average 12 pounds more. The combination of this plus higher consumption of HFCS vs sugar (although neither is good for you) in combination with lower levels of activity (no recess no pe less kids in sports because they are dangerous) and you have skyrocketing obesity. I think the promotion of it is more a coping mechanism and the result not the cause of things going sideways.
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i think that part is rather simplistic. kids now have more options than ever to consume their times between ipads, iphones, gaming, youtube, tik tok, etc.
 
i4k20c said:
think about this. during those times you had households where only one person was working for income and the other was taking care of home duties. one big duty being cooking and making nutritious meals. furthermore, you had jobs that also had strict start and stop times (no computers) so when you got home, your job was done and you can focus on being active with your family. at the same time, we had fast food chains starting to take off offering more convivence since parents have less time to cook, and you start to enter into the super size me phase. take a look at what an acceptable dinner was in 1970's and the portion size compared to today. you also have the FDA telling you that you should be eating carbs and processed grains (white bread, rice, cereal) as the most amount of of your calories. Remember how many Americans would eat sugary cereals in the morning with their family?

...do this for 5-10-15-20 years and of course you are going to have a problem on a large scale.
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All very good points. You're probably right that ubiquitous computers (smartphones and more) and uninterrupted interconnectivity are important factors in play.

I recently, about a month or two ago, cut all sodas from my diet. I have never been a huge soda drinker (maybe once or twice a week at most), but wow... I do feel the difference already. The curious thing is that my son has done the same thing at the same time by his own choice because he wants to be able to train better everyday (he is in the military), and he told me the very same thing. He didn't know I was doing the same thing so I was very surprised by the difference that just cutting sodas made. I am now re-evaluating my entire diet and I am now very careful about what to eat (in addition to my protein shakes with no added sugar or HFCS).

I am also left wondering what long term damages energy drinks will make. I don't drink them now, but I do like them. However, I see way too many high schoolers with their Monster or Bang. My youngest kid tells me that he has some friends that drink three or more during the school day. That stuff is destructive in my opinion.
 
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Oh my! UnitedHealthCare, a insurance company will now have access to a vast amount of information on the people they provide cover to. What, what pray tell could go wrong? They will now now be in a position to set their premiums for each customer based on their current and projected health.
 
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mbprouserirl said:
Oh my! UnitedHealthCare, a insurance company will now have access to a vast amount of information on the people they provide cover to. What, what pray tell could go wrong? They will now now be in a position to set their premiums for each customer based on their current and projected health.
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How so? What specific mechanism are you seeing in the documentation about the program. Link, please.

... and even if so, how exactly is setting higher premiums for customers at higher risk due to their chosen behaviors truly a bad thing?
 
i hate phones said:
There is a link within a link within a link in the article that lets you check your eligibility. Shocker my plan isn’t eligible 🙄

Apple Fitness Plus

This is a page for Apple Fitness Plus.
lp.uhc.com lp.uhc.com
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Thanks - that was helpful. Mine is not eligible either. These are one of these big announcements that will probably affect no one. I work for a large employer and can’t figure out why our UH plans are not eligible.
 
i hate phones said:
There is a link within a link within a link in the article that lets you check your eligibility. Shocker my plan isn’t eligible 🙄

Apple Fitness Plus

This is a page for Apple Fitness Plus.
lp.uhc.com lp.uhc.com
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Same here. Pretty sure they made this offer public as a PR hit knowing that very few of their insured would qualify and even fewer would have an apple watch, and even fewer would take them up on it.

I'm guessing 7 people total. Not bad for a PR budget release.
 
deeddawg said:
How so? What specific mechanism are you seeing in the documentation about the program. Link, please.

... and even if so, how exactly is setting higher premiums for customers at higher risk due to their chosen behaviors truly a bad thing?
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People pay more for insurance if they’re smokers. Some companies are charging a higher premium if you didn’t get the covid vaccine. Setting higher premiums for higher risk populations happens all over the insurance world.
 
Rogifan said:
People pay more for insurance if they’re smokers. Some companies are charging a higher premium if you didn’t get the covid vaccine. Setting higher premiums for higher risk populations happens all over the insurance world.
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Yep - and look at automotive insurance vis-a-vis where you live, what you drive, what your driving record looks like, etc.

I personally have no issue with differential pricing on factors which are a matter of choice such as smoking. I anticipate we'll see it expanded to other areas as well even if it is done indirectly by providing financial incentives to provide evidence of exercising, vaccinations (flu shot), preventative care visits, etc.
 
contacos said:
what does that have to do with Fitness+? They are showing and coaching you how to do certain work outs correctly. It is not like you subscribe to a guy telling you to get up in the morning to go running
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What does it have to do with it? It’s not letting you grow as a person. You should do your own research and figure it out. This is it rocket science by the way.
 
TheOneWhoKnocks said:
What does it have to do with it? It’s not letting you grow as a person. You should do your own research and figure it out. This is it rocket science by the way.
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Who gets to say what people "should" do, and exactly how is it that Fitness+ might prevent someone from doing so if they wished to combine that along with the use of Fitness+?
 
Maybe this time I'll actually use Apple Fitness+ before the trial ends. I work out and use the Workout app on my watch to track exercise, but was just never motivated to watch a video on Fitness+ while I had a trial of it. Is it worth checking out?
 
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