One Insurance Company Is Betting Big on Customers Giving Up Personal Health-Tracking Data
Tuesday, September 25th, 2018As people increasingly use personal fitness devices, such as Fitbits, or health-tracking apps, such as Strava, there has been increasing concern about individual medical privacy as the data is gathered and used, sometimes for purposes of which runners or cyclists were unaware. People have questioned where this data collection could lead.
Recently, U.S. life insurance giant John Hancock announced one path for fitness tracking: To cut life insurance rates. Beginning next year, John Hancock, in partnership with Vitality Group, “will stop underwriting traditional life insurance and instead sell only interactive policies that track fitness and health data through wearable devices and smartphones,” Reuters reported. “Policyholders score premium discounts for hitting exercise targets tracked on wearable devices such as a Fitbit or Apple Watch and get gift cards for retail stores and other perks by logging their workouts and healthy food purchases in an app.”
Currently, John Hancock’s program is voluntary and there are numerous other life insurance companies that offer traditional policies, which do not involve constantly tracking individuals’ health and fitness information through wearable devices. But how soon will this change, to where more and more people are pressured to give up such personal data, such daily information, in order to have policies to protect their families? Read more »