Your Fitbit datum could soon get you a life insurance discount . One of the biggest policy companies in the U.S. is making interactive wellness information from personal devices like Fitbit and Apple Watch part of all its policy plans , according toReuters .
As part of John Hancock ’s synergistic life insurance policy policy , client are rewarded for tracking their behavior , get discounts on premium , gift cards , and various other perks if they log exercise and record their health intellectual nourishment purchases with the assist of wearable machine and apps . client are n’t forced to log their data point , but theperksare design to incentivize multitude to do so . The idea is that customers are more motivated to stay healthy , theoretically come down the figure of biography indemnity payouts the company has to make .
John Hancock start extend its interactive liveliness insurance — known as theVitalityprogram — in 2015 , but now it ’s making it available as part of all of its program . Vitality Plus customer can get disregard or spare Fitbits andApple Watches , earn Amazon gift cards , and get a free yearly subscription to the mindfulness app Headspace , among other benefit .
John Hancock Insurance CEO Brooks Tingle told Reuters that base on the data the program has gathered so far , its Vitality policyholders are estimated to dwell 13 to 21 years longer than the rest of its insured customer .
Similar program are popular in the UK , and have already been carry out in the U.S. by wellness insurers likeUnitedHealthcare . But not everyone is a fan . seclusion advocatesarguethat these policies could be intrusive and nonplus a protection risk , since wearables can be hacked . As these platform become stock , consumers will essentially have to make up redundant to keep their personal fittingness data private from their indemnity company . the great unwashed who are unforced to tell their insurance company about their real every move will make up lower premiums than those who are self-effacing to strap on a fitness tracker . Not to bring up the fact that consumer physical fitness trackers like Fitbit are n’t always known for having the mostreliable data .
We have n’t quite reached that dystopian insurance future , though , and right now , the idea of getting a gift card just for hitting 10,000 steps a solar day still feels fairly exciting .
[ h / tReuters ]
