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In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, the state uses ubiquitous ‘telescreens’ to monitor and control the population. Part of that control is a daily, and compulsory, programme of physical exercise.
Aren’t we lucky that we don’t live in a world like that?
Only here’s something to bear in mind: this month, John Hancock, an American life insurance company, announced that it would be expanding its Vitality programme, which enables policy holders to “record [their] everyday healthy habits, like taking a walk, to earn points and gain extra savings and rewards”. The recording is achieved through the use wearable fitness trackers, smartphones and other bit of kit.
Writing about the story for Vox, Cheryl Wischhover points out that a life insurance company has an obvious interest in its customers’ continued good health:
“….life insurance companies want to keep you alive as long as possible so that you keep paying your monthly premiums. It’s a double whammy for them when you die: not only do they lose your premiums, they have to pay your survivor(s).”
I’d say it’s also a great marketing strategy. There’s a growing number of self-quantifying health fanatics who don’t actually need much persuading to strap on a fitness tracker; rather, what’s lacking in their lives is anyone who actually wants to know how many steps they’ve walked that day. John Hancock is pressing all the right buttons.
It should be stressed that the company is not forcing anyone to take part or share their fitness data. Furthermore, they are rewarding healthy habits not punishing unhealthy ones; and if you hate the idea anyway, other life insurance providers are available.
But what if a special feature of one life insurance provider’s products becomes a general feature of all health insurance provision? Being without health insurance in America isn’t much fun – so anything generally required of policy holders is pretty much compulsory.
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