Wearables are electronic devices that you wear on a regular basis. Think of the various BitFit wristbands and the like. That's the most basic way to explain it. A lot less complicated than a Heart Rate GPS Watch. Though a science fiction branch of this is offering blood pressure readings remotely from your phone and a wealth of other really important functions. In spite of that though, a growing swell of intense marketing is trying to convince us that we all need to wear one that calls home (the insurance database) on a regular basis to make sure you're making all the right healthy choices.
The problem is that the "settled science" rarely is, and if you've been around as long as I have, you'd have seen all the various government and medical institutions making royal fools of themselves flip-flopping over what they consider to be "healthy" at any given time, and that's the crux of the matter IMHO.
Right now I think fitness is considered to be a 20 minute walk at a heart rate of about 66.6% so maybe about 80 BPM for us old dudes. Which is almost worthless to me. I'd get old and fat at that rate. The problem is that with all of us in the huge mega-pool of insured we'd all be liable for the cost of everyone, so the unhealthy unfit people tooling around for hours at a time at Anaerobic Threshold would be penalized for the effect they have on the general population by raising the group % probability of a heart attack. You got it. If you are what we who actually exercise consider to be "fit" then you are a greater risk of causing others to become sick, so you must pay. [Compare Crap Cardio with Good Cardio HERE]
Assuming that the only way to control the pool is to monitor the pool and issue feedback in the way of tax hikes, fees, fines and penalties, this is a really bad idea. It's easy to sell though to the people that most desperately need the opposite of this. Sure, go get your healthy meal at the drive-thru. Exercise pushing a shopping basket around the Walmart. Push it to the car for a .23% reduction in your income taxes this year since now you're super-fit. Spin your call center cubicle chair 100 times to game the system into thinking you did a few bodyweight pilates exercises. It's all good.
We who are fit though will be forced to stop running, stop lifting weights, stop cycling, and stop eating decent foods that have stood the test of time.
Aside from that the only other issues would be a clear violation of HIPAA, privacy, security and a slew of other horrendous issues that stand to break the back of the infrastructure of society. Just sayin'
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| walking at about 3.0 mph with a 70 bpm heart rate is decidedly worthless for fitness |
Right now I think fitness is considered to be a 20 minute walk at a heart rate of about 66.6% so maybe about 80 BPM for us old dudes. Which is almost worthless to me. I'd get old and fat at that rate. The problem is that with all of us in the huge mega-pool of insured we'd all be liable for the cost of everyone, so the unhealthy unfit people tooling around for hours at a time at Anaerobic Threshold would be penalized for the effect they have on the general population by raising the group % probability of a heart attack. You got it. If you are what we who actually exercise consider to be "fit" then you are a greater risk of causing others to become sick, so you must pay. [Compare Crap Cardio with Good Cardio HERE]
I'm not kidding.
I'm not sure how they'll track it and enforce it, but I assume you'd also have to take a pic of your meals and it would analyze it to ensure that you were getting your daily dose of Monsanto. Or grains. Or fat. Or whatever it is this week that is "healthy" as per the FDA or USDA or whomever is currently under Big-Pharma control. At least Colorado and Washington have taken big steps in breaking that hold on our health. |
| protein powder, non-fat plain yogurt, raspberries and bananas - the leading cause of obesity and a slew of diseases. the USDA said so. Believe The Man. |
Assuming that the only way to control the pool is to monitor the pool and issue feedback in the way of tax hikes, fees, fines and penalties, this is a really bad idea. It's easy to sell though to the people that most desperately need the opposite of this. Sure, go get your healthy meal at the drive-thru. Exercise pushing a shopping basket around the Walmart. Push it to the car for a .23% reduction in your income taxes this year since now you're super-fit. Spin your call center cubicle chair 100 times to game the system into thinking you did a few bodyweight pilates exercises. It's all good.
We who are fit though will be forced to stop running, stop lifting weights, stop cycling, and stop eating decent foods that have stood the test of time.
Aside from that the only other issues would be a clear violation of HIPAA, privacy, security and a slew of other horrendous issues that stand to break the back of the infrastructure of society. Just sayin'
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