Ask HN: Do wellness incentives help employers save money on taxes and insurance?

Post by feld » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 5:29 PM UTC

theforceawakens wrote: post #14

feld wrote: post #10

It's a privacy invasion scam. At a previous employer they wanted to track our steps and our GPS location and also wanted us to record every glass of water we drink. It's a disgusting ruse. I don't care if they were going to give me $300/yr, my privacy is worth more than that.

Orthogonal issue but here is what I think -- While I agree that privacy is of great concern, I do think the way to approach this would be with more frequent health checkups. Our body is the best marker at the end of the day to measure our healthiness. Everything else doesn't matter, which is also the reason the allure of wearables is wearing out. (It's great, but what do you do now that you have all this data that yo…

Post by theforceawakens » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 5:37 PM UTC

mikecb wrote: post #20

emodendroket wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does your car insurance company require you to install a GPS tracker in your car so they can keep track of everywhere you go? Because that would be much more analogous to what the parent describes.

No, but many of them give you a discount for installing an accelerometer/gps speed sensor.

Post by Pitarou » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 5:42 PM UTC

theforceawakens wrote: post #18

6stringmerc wrote: post #9

If you look a little deeper, the foundation of the concept of "Wellness Programs" is to raise all rates paid by employees across the board, then provide discounts for behaviors that are approved (basically sharing PMI data with a 3rd party). In the US this is because - to my understanding - laws prevent insurance companies and companies from 'discriminating' in their pricing. As in, they can't penalize most people fo…

Thanks for the insight. I think you bring a very good perspective to this. Although I am not very sure, what you really mean by saying "a lot of lifestyle changes needed to promote genuine health aren't really incorporated"...do you mean the employers don't promote them? Or the incentives you are relating to don't fall under the "wellness program" benefits in general to receive a credit/discount (from the standpoint…

Post by robg » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 5:45 PM UTC

6stringmerc wrote: post #9

If you look a little deeper, the foundation of the concept of "Wellness Programs" is to raise all rates paid by employees across the board, then provide discounts for behaviors that are approved (basically sharing PMI data with a 3rd party). In the US this is because - to my understanding - laws prevent insurance companies and companies from 'discriminating' in their pricing. As in, they can't penalize most people fo…

Post by superuser2 » Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 6:16 PM UTC

feld wrote: post #22

theforceawakens wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Orthogonal issue but here is what I think -- While I agree that privacy is of great concern, I do think the way to approach this would be with more frequent health checkups. Our body is the best marker at the end of the day to measure our healthiness. Everything else doesn't matter, which is also the reason the allure of wearables is wearing out. (It's great, but what do you do now that you have all this data that yo…

They also gave "points" in this reward system for recording visits to doctor, dentist, proving you had an annual physical, etc. I'm sorry but while it's great to encourage that behavior it's not my employer's not my insurance company's business to know these details about my healthcare.