John Hancock Insurance will only sell interactive life insurance.

[sinkingfeeling]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-manulife-financi-john-hancock-lifeins/strap-on-the-fitbit-john-hancock-to-sell-only-interactive-life-insurance-idUSKCN1LZ1WL


(Reuters) - John Hancock, one of the oldest and largest North American life insurers, will stop underwriting traditional life insurance and instead sell only interactive policies that track fitness and health data through wearable devices and smartphones, the company said on Wednesday.

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.

In theory, everybody wins, as policyholders are incentivized to adopt healthy habits and insurance companies collect more premiums and pay less in claims if 

[democratic friend]

1. Not sure I like this

[brush]

2. Let's see if they get away with this. Court challenges on invasion of privacy in 3-2-1...

[LisaM]

3. Is this a joke?

They basically want to track all their policy holders?

Our work has a wellness program (voluntary). I refuse to join because it seems enormously invasive, having me write down what I eat and drink, among other things. Work doesn't need to know what I do when I'm not there! (Note: in 18 years, I have had maybe six sick days).

Are people in their 80's supposed to all get FitBits now? And are they letting FitBit keep the data?

The amount people will let themselves be tracked floors me. This is why companies like Cambridge Analytica get to take data and use it for bad.

[RobinA]

4. I Can't See

this going over well AT ALL. Sure, someone gets all motivated, gets the latest Fitbit and starts exercising and keeping notes. How long is that going to last? How many people hit exercise and diet goals? How many people stick to a program? How many people want to write all this stuff down every damn day???? Most people I know can't even stick to some simple physical therapy exercises even if it means pain-free mobility. I'm betting it's a nonstarter.

[JHB]

7. "All the better to deny your claim, my dear" said the wolf.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. You Will Become One With The Borg

Resistance is futile!

No thanks.

[JCanete]

6. This sounds like it has all kinds of problematic implications. It is going to reward the healthiest

people who don't have ailments or work schedules that make getting exercise difficult. It surely sounds like a wet dream for insurance companies, but its just another way to screw people who may need coverage the most. If this is legal in our current system, it probably shouldn't be.

[FSogol]

14. Just remember, it's better to be rich and healthy, than to be sick and poor.

[gibraltar72]

8. As a former now retired insurance agent

this sounds like a plan to give company right to increase decrease premiums. Current insurance normally locks in a rate based on health etc. when you buy. Everyone is always going to get healthy, take better care of themselves?? Looks like bait and switch. You sign up and pledge to do X but stuff changes and you do Y we'll increase your rate. Just my two cents.

[grantcart]

10. Agree

The whole point is to spread the risk assessed at the time of enrollment.

After that premiums should be fixed

[Hortensis]

9. Some will want to save money this way. I don't see

Last edited Thu Sep 20, 2018, 02:14 PM - Edit history (1)

what happens after sustained noncompliance, though. For short periods obviously you wouldn't earn any of the benefits.

I also refused to participate in an employer wellness program because it was none of their business and I preferred to guard my privacy. But this wouldn't bother me privacywise.

[dumbcat]

11. I assume no one will be forced to buy these policies

so I guess we will see what the market thinks about them.

It does appear that John Hancock must feel pretty comfortable with it if that is all they are going to sell.

We'll see what customers think.

[RobinA]

18. Some I Think Will

buy with all good intentions and once they find out what a pain it is to keep themselves eligible will be looking for another plan. Plus, it's LIFE insurance. I guess the thinking is that they will live longer and therefore pay premiums for longer, but do we actually know what practices prolong life? I mean, for real, not just people's intuitive guesswork?

[dalton99a]

12. So if you hurt your back/break your leg/get sick and get laid up for an extended period, adios

Nice

[FSogol]

13. In China, they added a fitness requirement to all colleges. Those students have come up

with some pretty creative ways to cheat.



https://boingboing.net/2018/07/24/fitness-tracker-cheating-is-bi.html

[csziggy]

15. What if you can't wear one of those devices?

Actually last year I bought Fitbit knockoffs for me and my husband. We both wore ours everyday for a few weeks. his worked great. Whenever I tried to sync mine with my phone, it zeroed out so I never got reports on my activity.

Thinking maybe mine was bad, we switched - my husband is still using the one that wouldn't work for me and it works fine. The one that had worked for him did not work on me.

I never could wear wristwatches - they never worked. I guess it's the same for Fitbit type devices for me.

[jmowreader]

16. I assume the people who are already policyholders will just keep their old rates

I see what they're doing, and it's not that bad of an idea.

There are a LOT of gym rats in America. People who are already posting their Fitbit scores and gym workouts online and Instagramming their Grabbagreen lunches will line up around the corner to buy this insurance.

[eleny]

17. But who will go after the food manufacturers who have starved our food of its nutritional value?

Who will stop the use of pesticides on our fruits and vegetables and stop inoculating animals with antibiotics and god knows what else? How do we get the corn sweeteners and salt out of so much of what is on the shelves?

Mega corporations are even fighting our ability to know where products come from and what's in them.

Just my 2 cents because this deal is so wrong. Consumers are treated like cash cows and yet we have very little say.