Which insurance companies offer discounts on fitness trackers and smartwatches?
Which health insurance companies offer discounts on fitness trackers and smartwatches?
Best answer: Blue Cross Blue Shield and Kaiser offer standard discounts on Fitbit, Garmin, and other fitness brands. Aetna, Humana, and United Health will let you earn a "free" fitness tracker by completing and logging tracked workouts. Most brands offer discounted gym memberships or reimbursements as well.
Why do health insurers offer discounts on fitness tech?
It's not surprising that health insurance companies would offer you free fitness tech, hundreds off your medical bills, or subsidized gym memberships. The healthier you are, the less your insurer will have to pay on medical costs in the long run.
For those insurers that ask you to earn points through workouts — Aetna, Cigna, Humana, and United Health — you'll be asked to complete an annual health work-up to personalize your fitness goals. This also incentivizes getting patients into the doctor's office to catch any other issues early.
So while you might doubt that your insurer would offer discounted fitness trackers or bill reduction without a catch, it's a genuine offer that you should take advantage of if you want to get healthier this year.
We've checked the most popular U.S. health insurance providers by market share and have found as many health insurance fitness discounts on trackers and gym memberships as possible. If your insurer isn't listed below, search your member website or do a little Google searching to check for yourself!
Aetna
Attain by Aetna (opens in new tab) lets you slowly earn a free Apple Watch by completing daily and weekly workout goals based on your weight, sex, and personal health history. Aetna will send you the Apple Watch straight away, at which point you either have to finish your wellness goals every month for two years or send in a monthly payment if you slack off. If you already have one, you can earn points towards a new watch or gift cards. Unfortunately, it's specific to iOS users only.
Aetna also offers members gym membership savings for members or couples, letting you save potentially hundreds over each six-month period.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield
Blue365 (opens in new tab) is a dedicated spot for all BCBS and HCSC members offering health, fitness, and nutrition discounts, including 25% off Garmin products, up to 32% off a Fitbit with a gym pass membership, discounts on various wireless earbuds from Jabra, Aftershokz, and others, or 20% off a Withings Body Cardio scale or Withings Move.
BCBS also offers a $25 per month gym pass to 10,000 U.S. locations, while Anthem seems to offer a reimbursement form for attending the gym a certain number of times per year.
Cigna
The Cigna Healthy Rewards program offers discounts on various health and wellness products and services, with discounts ranging by vendor but frequently rising as high as 25% off. You can also get a discounted gym membership through Active&Fit (opens in new tab), which partners with Cigna.
You can also log accomplishments through myCigna.com (opens in new tab), completing weekly step goals to earn up to $50 per 1,000 points or up to $500 per year. If you buy a fitness tracker to complete these goals, you'll easily reimburse the price over time, which is its own kind of discount.
Note: We previously mentioned Active&Fit offers Fitbit/Garmin Home Fitness Kits on its website. However, Cigna and A&F representatives informed me they don't offer these kits through this specific program and asked us to remove this information. We regret the error.
Humana
If your workplace enrolls in Go365 (opens in new tab), you can participate in the wellness incentive program and earn points for working out. You simply link your favorite fitness app to the Go365 app and complete recommended activities (including non-fitness activities like dental cleanings) to build up points. You can then convert those points into a free Fitbit or Garmin watch, e-gift cards for popular storefronts, or outdoor recreation accessories.
While Humana participates in the Silver Sneakers (opens in new tab) program for Medicare users, we didn't see any other gym reimbursement plans with this insurance.
Kaiser Permanente
If your organization opted into the Kaiser ChooseHealthy (opens in new tab) program, you can receive some decent health insurance fitness discounts: 20% off the best Fitbit or Garmin trackers, 20% off Fitbit Premium, and 15% off Polar trackers. You'll also find 30-55% off workout apparel or exercise equipment, among other deals.
Register an account, and you'll find a wide range of discount offers. All you have to do is simply copy the provided promo code, click Redeem Offer, and jump to the relevant page to receive your discount.
Like Cigna, Kaiser also lets you enroll at a discount to the Active&Fit (opens in new tab) program, meaning you can pay monthly for a cheaper gym membership and get a free Garmin or Fitbit kit as part of the package.
United Health
United Health (UH) has a Motion app (opens in new tab) that incentivizes getting hitting daily FIT goals (Frequency, Intensity, Tenacity) like moving six times a day, doing a hard 30-minute workout, or getting 10,000 steps in. Basically, eligible members can receive a free Fitbit Charge 5 or Apple Watch and earn a few dollars per day for completing these goals. You can receive a new device every couple of years and may receive a free Apple Fitness+ membership.
Otherwise, UH has a Sweat Equity Program that reimburses you up to $200 in a six-month period for completing 50 tracked gym workouts; and it has a Medicare Renew Active program that offers a free gym membership, among other perks.
Ensuring your insurance gets you healthy
Not every health insurance offers these kinds of perks, and some insurances will vary based on which state you live in. But even if your provider isn't listed here, you should definitely check and see what your insurer offers
Discounts on fitness trackers will make it more affordable to track your health and physical progress over time. And with the right insurer, you can use this data as proof that you're getting healthier, with some discounted insurance payments or free goodies to incentivize your fitness journey.
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