Smartphone cradle used to cheat “10k steps/day” health insurance discounts • Hacker News Board

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

#181

Post by ygra » Tue, May 01, 2018, 7:31 AM UTC

lev99 wrote: post #142

8_hours_ago wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 g…

3 incidents per year at 20miles/day is higher than the statistical average. Are you biking in a way to increase the likelihood of an incident, biking in an area that is less safe than the average bike ride, or did you just have an unlucky year?

Could just be biking in an area that has no biking infrastructure (i.e. bike lanes well separated from roads). I commute to work by bike daily and the most dangerous part of that is by far when I leave the cycleways between towns and have to be on the road. Motorists everywhere (except maybe Denmark or the Netherlands) seem to have a very fuck you attitude towards cyclists taking away their road; this shows mainly in disregarding right of way or attempting unsafe overtaking manoeuvres.

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

#182

Post by 0xfaded » Tue, May 01, 2018, 7:35 AM UTC

8ytecoder wrote: post #54

liveoneggs wrote: post #45

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?

My hang gliding instructor, who was also an avid cyclist, explained that cycling is only dangerous because you spend so much time close to the ground.

This is a common joke in aviation, but sharing a thermal with multiple gliders whizzing around is a little disconcerting.

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

#183

Post by tlrobinson » Tue, May 01, 2018, 7:53 AM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #135

forgueam wrote: post #28

I did something similar in college. A company paid cash for installing software that displayed ads on the bottom of your monitor. It qualified your ad viewing activity based on mouse movement. At night I would open the software, wrap my mouse cord around an oscillating desk fan, then go to bed. Earned myself $50/month

To my combined horror and joy, you can now just buy a commercial mouse jiggler: https://www.amazon.com/WiebeTech-Programmable-Mouse-Jiggler-...

WiebeTech sells a bunch of interesting computer forensics hardware. I’m guessing these are typically used by law enforcement when seizing unlocked computers to keep them unlocked.

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

#184

Post by lotsofpulp » Tue, May 01, 2018, 8:11 AM UTC

Analemma_ wrote: post #112

8_hours_ago wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 g…

Someone who ran the equivalent of ~20 miles per day (a 5K per day, maybe?) for 5 years would probably have their share of expensive medical issues too. Runners get fractures, they get in traffic accidents, they get pneumonia, etc. So in a straight comparison between running vs. biking as far as the insurance company is concerned, it's probably a wash.

20 miles per day and 5K per day are not comparable. Probability of injury is a function of the quantity/intensity you are performing the action, and of course running 7x farther will be result in more injury.

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

#185

Post by jakecopp » Tue, May 01, 2018, 9:10 AM UTC

lostapathy wrote: post #172

jimmy1 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Most places its not actually illegal to bike on the sidewalk. Common myth.

In Sydney, Australia there is a $109 fine for cycling on a footpath (for those 13 and older), and a $319 fine for not wearing a helmet.

That means a 13 year old trundling down a 5 meter wide footpath to the local shops on Sunday morning is up for a $428 fine, roughly 23 hours of adult minimum wage work.

It seems to be seldom enforced, but it is doing a good job at what I think is the main objective - keeping people off bikes and in their car paying road tolls to the government and their private contractor businesses.

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

#186

Post by sundvor » Tue, May 01, 2018, 10:03 AM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #110

sundvor wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

"That's why little chocolate donuts have been on my training table since I was a kid..." https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/little-chocola...

Geographic Restriction This content is not available in your location.

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

#187

Post by chatmasta » Tue, May 01, 2018, 10:22 AM UTC

djrogers wrote: post #156

8_hours_ago wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 g…

You are correct - this is interesting. I run, and in the last 2 years my only medical visits are for bacterial pneumonia (non-flu related, just appeared to be really bad luck) and a stress fracture in my knee from ‘overtraining’. The stress fracture involved 3 visits with an orthopedic surgeon, an x-ray, and an MRI. Wonder what the tradeoff is there for my lifetime medical expenses if I wasn’t running?

To be fair, you also need to consider the tradeoff of continuing to run but not seeking treatment for any injuries sustained.

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

#188

Post by chatmasta » Tue, May 01, 2018, 10:26 AM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #184

Analemma_ wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone who ran the equivalent of ~20 miles per day (a 5K per day, maybe?) for 5 years would probably have their share of expensive medical issues too. Runners get fractures, they get in traffic accidents, they get pneumonia, etc. So in a straight comparison between running vs. biking as far as the insurance company is concerned, it's probably a wash.

20 miles per day and 5K per day are not comparable. Probability of injury is a function of the quantity/intensity you are performing the action, and of course running 7x farther will be result in more injury.

I think OP was comparing 5k running to 20 miles biking. That is still probably inaccurate, since a 20 mile bike is at least 60 minutes, and a 5k run is at most 30 minutes. It would be more accurate to compare a 10k or even 10 mile run to a 20mi bike.

Of course it also depends on the physical condition of the person, especially their susceptibility to stress related injuries, and the running surface. Generally speaking running is much higher impact than biking, which is why you so often see runners with a stress injury training on a stationary bike.

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

#189

Post by chatmasta » Tue, May 01, 2018, 10:44 AM UTC

kps wrote: post #50

saagarjha wrote: post #3

This would presumably work as long as your insurance provider doesn't have access to your location or any other means of figuring out that your exercise routine is odd.

What the world needs is an app that enables our kind to hire some peon to walk around with our phones. Where do I send my YC application?

Not exactly what you describe, but SXSW paid a platoon of homeless Austin residents to carry around WiFi access points. IIRC it didn’t go over so well for them in the media, which I personally found odd since they were paying $20/hr and the homeless people probably thought it was a cool way to earn easy money...

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

#190

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS » Tue, May 01, 2018, 10:50 AM UTC

Splines wrote: post #80

kpwags wrote: 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.

People are willing to go quite far sometimes: https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/8fu7wi/albertan_cha...

I liked this hilarious little bit at the end of that post:

Disclaimer I must say (for anyone who tries to report me) that I didn’t legally change my sex solely for cheaper auto-insurance, though, that was and is a big factor for me and other people who suffer from gender-dysphoria.