MINNETONKA, Minn. (AP) - The nation’s largest health insurer is offering a new program that provides its customers’ employees with activity trackers and financial incentives to reach fitness goals, as interest in the devices grow among both workers and employer health plans.
United Healthcare is expected to announce Tuesday during a trade show on health information technology in Las Vegas that it’s collaborating with Qualcomm, based in San Diego, to offer the devices with certain employer health plans that buy coverage from the Minnetonka company. Qualcomm provides the technology tied to the devices’ sensors.
“We know from the science there is a health care value for exercise - pretty straightforward,” said Steve Beecy, a vice president with United Healthcare.
An employee can earn up to $1,460 a year for his or her health reimbursement account for meeting certain fitness goals. The fitness device is offered as part of an employee’s insurance premium, its unique algorithm tracks the frequency and intensity of activity, Beecy told the Star Tribune (https://strib.mn/1XXxCLM ).
The device can detect whether users are trying to scam the tracker by giving it to a rambunctious child or attaching it to an animal, according to Qualcomm.
The program, called United Healthcare Motion, is currently available to companies with between 101 and 300 employees in about a dozen states, with plans to add additional states this year. Companies located in Minnesota currently cannot participate in the program.
An employee and his or her spouse can each earn up to $4 per day for hitting three distinct targets.
A health plan enrollee who takes 300 steps within five minutes, six times per day, will earn $1.50. The participant can earn another $1.25 for walking 3,000 steps within a 30-minute period. And he or she can earn an additional $1.25 for talking a total of 1,000 steps per day.
“The frequency is probably the most important,” Beecy said of the first target, “because it’s all about being active throughout the day.”
Funds deposited into the worker’s health reimbursement account can be used for general health care expenses before tapping traditional health care coverage. Future versions will be linked with a health saving account so workers can also use the funds for medical costs.
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Information from: Star Tribune, https://www.startribune.com
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