Are Insurance Companies to Blame for The Low Consumer Adoption of Wearables? | Mobile Marketing Watch

Despite lofty projections for the future growth of the wearables market, adoption levels today remain underwhelming. As a result, some have begun asking if insurance companies may play a role in the sluggish adoption at hand.

Even with well-respected companies such as Apple and Google launching new wearable technologies, most consumers are approaching the product category with reservations – if they’re even approaching the product category at all.

While smart wearable technologies are still a new sector of the mobile health world, all signs point to such devices playing a pivotal long-term role in improving patient care and health management.

Unfortunately, one of the reasons many believe wearable tech has not yet captured a larger audience is that these devices are not covered by insurance.

Many adults make their medical and health-related decisions by what their insurance companies are willing to cover, so even physicians who would like to recommend mHealth technology may not do so because their patients have to pay for it out of pocket.

That being said, consumer adoption is still on the rise, just not as quickly as product developers had hoped.

“Over 57 percent of adults indicated that the possibility of lower premiums would make them more likely to use a fitness tracking device,” the findings of a recent study profiled by BenefitsPro reveal. “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.”

via www.mobilemarketingwatch.com