As open enrollment approaches, it appears there's one potentially cost saving health promotional option that won't be included in most plans: wearable health monitoring devices.
The lack of inclusion in major health plans speaks volumes about the apparent lost opportunity of mobile and wearable health aids, some industry experts say. Unlike wellness plans, HSAs and other plan components that are popping up everywhere, plan designers continue to snub the eHealth/mHealth marketplace.
Now, a new study of nearly 1,000 adults reveals that if people were encouraged either by their primary care clinician or their health plan provider to give wearables a try, they probably would. The study, designed by TechnologyAdvice Research, contends that carriers could have the greatest impact on wearable adoption if they dangled lower insurance premiums in front of the insured as the carrot for using wearables.
Recommended For You
The eHealth/mHealth industry does seem to be poised to take off. A recent bullish forecast said costs for devices were coming down and, at the same time, health plan managers were beginning to sense their potential to hold down cost escalation. Certain segments within the health care industry are throwing their weight behind adoption of such health aids.
A wider adoption of such devices as blood pressure and sugar level monitors, weight and workout trackers would save millions in downstream health costs, experts say. Additionally, such devices motivate people to take greater control over their own health — perhaps the single most important factor in producing a healthier overall workforce and lower the cost of insuring workers.
The TechnologyAdvice Research survey asked U.S. adults to describe their general fitness tracking habits; 419 adults who said they used no devices were asked further questions about what that was the case.
The baseline finding of the study: About a quarter of those surveyed has used, or continue to use, some sort of wearable health tracker. The other side of the coin: 75 percent don't.
When asked why they didn't try out one of the devices, 44 percent said they didn't really know why. Of the remaining non-users, 27 percent said they had absolutely no interest in monitoring their own health via wearables, and another 17 percent said they thought the devices would be too expensive.
When asked what might motivate them to experiment with a wearable device, 57 percent said they'd give one a try if it led to lower insurance premiums. Nearly half said they'd use one if their primary care clinician gave them one to use.
The study concluded that wearables are poised to take a significant role in personal health care as well as to become a cost container for insurance plans. All that's needed is a push from above — a doctor or insurance plan manager.
"Over 57 percent of adults indicated that the possibility of lower premiums would make them more likely to use a fitness tracking device," the report said. "Health insurance companies have greater means to subsidize the cost of such devices, and stand to benefit from the collected data in the form of better risk profiles. If health care providers worked in tandem with health insurance companies, both stakeholders could benefit from the collected population health data."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
