Life Insurance Company Adding Fitness Tracking to all Policies
Marie Donlon | September 24, 2018John Hancock, one of the largest insurance providers in North America, plans on offering only “interactive” policies from now on that gather data about policyholder health using wearable devices like a smartwatch.
Digital fitness devices are capable of tracking data concerning the policyholder such as how often they exercise. As such, policyholders could be rewarded with discounts or gift cards whenever they achieve some exercise milestone.
Although John Hancock launched its first interactive policy in 2015, the interactive model will now apply across all of the company’s policies.
However, privacy advocates, who have called the move "creepy" and "dystopian," are cautioning that insurers might be using the tracking data to punish policyholders who aren’t successfully meeting fitness targets.
"Naturally the American dystopian surveillance state will combine insurance with fat-shaming. Welcome to hell," said Matt Stoller, a fellow at the Open Markets Institute.
Yet, the insurance industry argued that it is closely regulated and would not be able to increase rates or enact policy changes without justification.
Additionally, John Hancock claimed that policyholders would not have to log their activities at all to qualify for coverage, but would have to for discount eligibility.
Giving gifts or rebates for 'good' behavior is tantamount to increasing rates for those who do not meet the desired profiles.
I can't blame them. Insurance is a business, not a charity. They need to make money to stay in business and their first concern is the bottom line, not the policy holders in spite of the all the advertising to the contrary.
If they surveil their policy holders to improve their bottom line, so be it. No one makes you buy life insurance. Kids are on their own, I have a good savings, so I've cancelled my term life policies. I'll keep those premiums, thank you. (Never mind that the premiums doubled when I hit 55. See ya. )
In reply to #1
Well said. Accurate and succinct. It's a business.
People may get the wrong idea based on the insurers' own advertising. They may 'care' about you, but that's not why they go to work every day.
One concern I have is that physical exercise does not guarantee longevity. Many octogenarians do not exercise at all. Runners sometimes drop dead while they are running. This is too much of an arbitrary measure of health.
Is data gathered in real time, directly from the device, or must it be uploaded regularly? How do they know who is wearing the device? Must they monitor the monitor?
In reply to #1
Yes, brilliant business concept ... right up to the point they learn about customers dropping dead due to the anxiety of knowing they are being monitored 24/7!
If any company asked me to wear a device that they could monitor I would go elsewhere for insurance, if enough people do it they would soon change their tune.