Apple said to have talked with insurance companies regarding HealthKit
Apple is said to have met with health insurance companies concerning its health-focused programs, including its HealthKit software and possibly its long-rumored “iWatch” fitness-tracking wearable device.
According to Bloomberg, companies are providing wearable devices such as the FitBit so as to track the health and fitness of their employees. This way, they can ascertain whether they can cut back on insurance bills according to employees’ health behavior and the terms duly agreed upon with their partner insurance providers.
To this end, tech companies have apparently been pitching their health-tracking software and hardware offerings to employers and managed health care companies. One of these tech companies is said to be none other than Apple, which has reportedly discussed its health initiatives with the likes of UnitedHealth and Humana:
Apple Inc., which has new health-tracking software called HealthKit that will be released this year and is said to be developing its own wearable device, has talked with UnitedHealth, the biggest U.S. insurer, and Humana, about its health initiatives, executives at the insurance providers said. The companies wouldn’t provide specifics about the conversations. Apple declined to comment.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Apple had been discussing HealthKit and its other health initiatives with health care providers at Mount Sinai, the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and other medical institutions.
Unveiled by Apple at its developer conference last June, HealthKit is a set of developer tools that allows its companion Health app and other integrated apps to make health data such as pulse and weight available to view in one place. It’s scheduled to be officially launched along with iOS 8 this fall.
