Wearable Devices May Be Covered by Insurance

UnitedHealth Group and Qualcomm are starting a new wellness plan that would offer cash rewards for reaching health goals to patients based, in part, on their wearable devices.

“This is a cardiovascular prescription. What you are seeing in this announcement is the first breakthrough of wearables into this medical-grade arena,” said Qualcomm Life Chief Medical Officer Dr. James Mault, in an interview with Forbes.

According to the article, "an enrollee in the program can earn $1.25 a day for walking 10,000 total steps, but there are also “frequency” measures that can earn someone $1.50 per day for doing an activity six times per day for “at least five minutes,” executives say."

Both companies say if the plan goes well, they want to offer more benefits.