Health insurer Aetna offering discounts on Apple Watch
- Fariha Khan
- September 28, 2016
- 475
Aetna, the U.S. health insurance company, has announced that it will be giving huge discount offers to both its customers as well as employees on the Apple Watch. The company asserts that it's the first major U.S. healthcare firm to subsidize the Watch's cost (most or all).
Aetna has about 50,000 employees and all of them will be able to avail Apple Watches for free. Businesses contracting with Aetna need to determine if they wish to adopt the device. If they do plan to put it in use, how will it be subsidized?
Read also: Apple makes Payment to launch this year in Japan, New Zealand and Russia
Aetna working on a multipurpose app
From reminding people about taking their medicine through ordering refills to paying bills through the Wallet app, the company is presently working on an app for Apple which will be useful for various purposes. It is not clear yet if Apple Pay will be included in it.
Creating a big niche in the corporate fitness tracker market
It is obvious that Apple will reap the benefits from the fast sales of the watches. However, the company will also get another chance to bind people into its network as well as generating possible sales to other insurers. It means that Apple is to create a huge niche in the corporate fitness tracker market. So far, that domain is being controlled by Fitbit that has been selling trackers to businesses concerned about insurance costs for about 3 years by boosting more exercise.
Apple has launched Series 2 (Upgrade of Apple Watch) too
Recently, Apple has launched the Series 2, an upgrade of the Apple Watch with built-in GPS and waterproofing features.
Big time for Aetna Employees/consumers as well as Apple
While it is yet another opportunity for Apple to hook additional fish, it is big time for the workers at Aetna as well as its consumers to enjoy a world class gadget in the form of Apple Watch.