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Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

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Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#81
post #12

I bike 15+ miles a day but my work's discount program doesn't "support" biking. If I was into vigilante justice, I'd consider a solution like this too. But as it is, I'm quite content biking for my own sake rather than some pittance of a benefit.

Strap your phone to your ankle

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#82
post #14
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot. I'd be surprised if any Business Management 101 class didn't teach that if there is a reward involved, people will maximize for whatever critera you measure.

Goodhart's law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."

That's only true to the extent that the chosen measure was only coincidentally something that looked like a good measure to start with; if you were actually measuring the true feature of merit, making it a target wouldn't make it a bad measure. Making a measure a target incentivizes discovery of its deficiencies, if any, as a measure.

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#83
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of runners in my family. They often get injuries (especially knew) from running. Biking is a lot kinder to your joints.

I rarely bike because I don't trust drivers, and you can't bike on the sidewalk.

People who use bikes don't trust drivers either. In fact I work on the base assumption that bus drivers in particular, are actively trying to kill me.

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#84
post #55

Wellness programs and similar initiatives are so repellent to me that I'm pretty sympathetic to everyone fooling them.

Turn it around- perhaps the low risk individuals find subsidizing the high risk individuals equally repellent. Wellness programs allow those individuals to recover some of their premiums.

Yes, other people conceivably might have values diametrically opposed to mine. So?

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#85
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are you more likely to sustain an injury than someone who is mostly idle?

Yes, but the reduced risk of heart disease/stroke/obesity more than makes up for it. Also better lung function and less car fumes breathed in since your car cabin isn't trapping them.

I'm not sure it does; urban biking is very dangerous.

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are you more likely to sustain an injury than someone who is mostly idle?

Do you have statistics to indicate biking is inherently more dangerous than other activities or are you just repeating a certain assumption you have?

This is interesting... I am in my 20s and bike ~20 miles per day. Over the last 5 years I have had 3 broken bones due to bike accidents including one which required an ambulance ride. With few exceptions, I only go to the doctor for bike-related injuries and my annual physical. To my health insurance provider, do the benefits to my cardiovascular system and general fitness offset the cost to treat my injuries?

I am guessing the insurance companies are looking far enough into the future where the long term benefits to my health outweigh the short term risks, but they are definitely losing money in the short term.

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#88
post #6

I wonder how many people use stuff like this to cheat the system? I remember seeing someone on reddit bragging about attaching their Fitbit to a reciprocating saw to get more steps than his wife. I couldn't figure out why it was that important, but with insurance discounts, I can definitely see the financial incentives.

I worked in this space, and yes, if the employer offers an incentive, people will cheat. Even for something like a $10 Dunkin Donuts gift card (heck of a incentive for a health/wellness program). We'd go through logs and see people sequentially logging for each day, one team member after another, on the last day of the competition. You'd also find people scrutinizing the accuracy of any reporting we did as a company…

Donuts as a reward for physical activity - what the actual??

Re: Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts

#90
post #61

Wellness programs and similar initiatives are so repellent to me that I'm pretty sympathetic to everyone fooling them.

They don't even work: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-26/workplace...

You have to wonder if there is some ulterior motive at work or else just some sort of mass psychosis where some eggheads think employees want their bosses to tell them what to eat and how to exercise.
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