United States Cardio watches to pay less for its medical coverage

United States Cardio watches to pay less for its medical coverage

A little daily walk and you win $ 1.50, exercising more and it's a $ 1,400 bonus to the year of American Insurers want and encourage their clients to spend and monetize their medical coverage.

The idea is not new but has gained momentum with the popularization of connected accessories ( "wearables"), these bracelets and other gadgets that calculate the distance traveled or the number of calories burned. UnitedHealthcare, the second largest medical insurer in the US, provides its customers make in exchange exercise reduced costs for them and their employers. These are indeed required, since the health reform Obamacare, to propose in health coverage since they employ over 50 people. " One of our biggest challenges is to motivate people to make them feel responsible for their own health , "says Steve Beecy of United Healthcare, whose group provides its policyholders with a small box serving as a pedometer, among other functions. a survey of more than 200 large employers in the United States showed that 37% them using the accessories connected to measure the physical performance of their employees in 2015. According to the National Business Group on Health , which conducted the survey, 37% were planning to also put it in the coming years. " We are seeing a growing interest in the use of technology to help people become better consumers for their medical coverage ," Scott Marcotte develops, Xerox Human Resources, who participated in the study. playful exercise an incentives symbolic of this trend was that of the brand Target, who proposed last year to equip more than 300,000 employees from Fitbit wristband (measuring heart rate, among many other functions) free or at a knockdown price . in addition, a giant competition was launched, allowing the team of employees with the highest average daily steps to raise more than a million dollars to donate to local NGOs. these initiatives are called "gamification" , which translates as "gamification" . allow employees to have fun practicing a beneficial activity for health the issue of financial rewards, according to Jimmy Fleming, the healthy Wage consulting group is essential. " We have customers that offer fully fund a program, but it is less effective ," he says. " It takes a logical carrot and stick ." In some cases, like Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, wear a Polar wrist became mandatory for new students.