Are you looking to buy insurance coverage in India? Do you wish to understand your health better and get discounts on your insurance premium? If so, then you need to start using wearable technology.
Before we proceed, let’s get to know what wearable technology is…
It refers to a range of smart devices that can be worn on the body or attached to the dress to track several critical aspects of your physical and mental functioning such as heart rate, sleeping hours, blood sugar, and calories burnt during a workout.
How Wearables are beneficial for the Insurance Sector
Fitness trackers were among the first wearables to be discovered to track physical activities like a number of steps walked, amount of calories burnt, hours slept, a number of hand strokes made while swimming, etc. But as technology evolved, the devices also improved their functionality and features. Along the way, smart devices like belts and smart monitors were also invented to monitor human functionality deeper.
Today, even professional athletes are using wearable technology to track their performance from time to time so they can get better at their game. Common people like us can use wearables to track our health and fitness on a regular basis and make sure that a doctor’s appointment is needed only when it’s an emergency.
Wearables are not only a money-saver to the common man but also to the insurance sector on the whole. Here is an Infographic that highlights the various ways by which wearable technology is affecting the insurance industry.
Insurance agents have started recommending smart devices to their customers to track their physical activity results at home, work, and while on the road. One of the main reasons is because they feel the constant report generated by the devices makes things easy when they sit down to evaluate their customer’s health. In turn, this helps them to offer them premiums according to their customers’ health status. Fair deal, right?
Discounted Insurance premiums
Opting to use wearables is one of the best decisions you can make when it comes to boosting your chances of getting insurance premiums at lower rates. In fact, insurance companies have already started gifting up to 15% discount to customers who provide them access to their wearable technology data. In the coming days, we could expect to see more such schemes from insurance agents. At the end of the day, it’s a win-win situation for both the buyer and insurance broker.
More on that…
Do you know how insurance companies figure out premiums for their customers? Definitely, there’s no one size that fits all because your premium is determined based on a number of factors such as your age, gender, health, genetic data, etc. When you are leading a healthy life, wearables offer you a great opportunity to show them in the paper to your insurance agent to get your premium rate down by a considerable margin.
Important parameters like your blood pressure, sugar levels, cholesterol, and heart rate can be tracked using wearables and by showing a healthy report to your insurance company, you increase the odds of getting a nice quote in return.
A Couple of Concerns Though
Plain as day, you won’t get 100% data privacy when you hand over your medical report to an insurance agent. Companies in the health and fitness industry are queuing up for insurance companies to purchase their customer’s data so they could sell their products.
Affordability could be another cause of concern for many. A single piece of Fitbit Surge Ultimate Fitness Super Watch could cost you as much as Rs.25,000, and there are other devices that cost well over Rs.50,000. Can every insurance buyer afford wearables is the question here?
However, if you wish to do yourself a favor i.e. tracking your health on a regular basis and staying in good health forever, then your decision to invest in a wearable device won’t be wrong.
