Insurance companies are n’t on the dot known for their largesse , but one New York - base companionship has an enterprise that ’ll give you additional money depending on how seriously you take preventive wellness . With a fitness tracker .
This calendar week , Oscar Insurancelaunched a new program giving clientsMisfit Fitness trackersas part of their plans . If people reach a daily step tally determined by their current health stats , they ’ll get $ 1 every time they surpass that finish . Once they hit $ 20 , they can cash out with an Amazon gift card . They can keep doing this until they strike a $ 240 yearly limit .
And if Oscar users already have a fitness tracker , they can keep using what they have as long as it syncs up to Apple ’s HealthKit ( so that’sa no - go for Fitbit user ) . The fellowship is working on means to track other activities like biking and swimming , but for now , it ’s focus on the step enumeration .
Mario Schlosser , one of Oscar ’s co - founders , says over 17,000 the great unwashed are eligible to take advantage of the program so far . “ If you look at research as to what the ordinary person can do in their day-to-day biography to really impact a lot of the continuing killers in the U.S. , like corpulency , diabetes , back pain , or mental health , the U.S. General Surgeon or any other medico will tell you , well , you engender ta move more , you got ta take the air more ” he allege . Schlosser sees the costless fittingness trackers and the incentive program as a recollective term investment funds in preventative wellness .
This kind of inducement is just one of the ways Oscar is essay to distinguish itself from competitors . The company also provides outstandingly extended telemedicine features , where client can utilize an app to contact doctor whenever they need . Right now , the indemnity is only available in New York and New Jersey , but Schlosser severalize me the team is operate to enlarge across the U.S.
Of of course , Oscar is a small insurance companionship . This form of thing would involve a much large up - front cost . But Schlosser is confident that the fitness tracker initiative will be economically feasible as the ship’s company expands , and that the project could pay up for itself in the long discharge . He ’s also activated about how the company will be able to use the data point they receive from the fitness trackers to watch about guest wellness .
Fitness TrackersHealthInsurance
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