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Raising health says that people can live longer with Blockchain rewards
December 9, 2018 by Jon Southurst
Should health insurance agencies offer incentives for "good behavior"? How should they control it? Bitsonline spoke with Simon Lewis of Elevate Health about "lifestyle diseases", how they are a huge drain on national health care systems and the insurance industry and how his company could help people save money (and their lives) avoiding them.
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Learn to avoid "lifestyle diseases"
The least appealing name for lifestyle-related diseases is "chronic non-communicable diseases". You may be able to guess where he is going: talk about diseases resulting from poor life choices like eating badly, not exercising enough, smoking, drinking and taking drugs.
Covering the spectrum of tumors, heart and lung diseases, stroke, diabetes, etc. Lewis says that those conditions are six of the top 10 causes of premature death today and, as such, make up a huge percentage of healthcare costs.
Preventive care is the solution, says Lewis. Those who cover the majority of health care costs, ie governments and employers, could offer incentives to people to live healthier lives in general. And in essence, this includes doing the opposite of any activity that could lead to lifestyle-related illnesses.
Watch the interview above to see how Elevate Health suggests that offering incentives through a blockchain-based rewards system is the way to go.
Raising health says it has a solution
OK, so how does blockchain technology work in such a system? Lewis says it works as a mechanism to track the timing of behavioral changes, and then distribute the rewards.
The awards also need to encourage people along the way to healthier lives, says Lewis, because that's how the brain works. The true benefits of lifestyle adjustments go further, so the Elevate Health system awards rewards in small quantities shortly after a participant has made the change or decision.
This would require hundreds, or even millions, of small payments a day without human interaction.
The next challenge is to monitor whether or not people actually make those promised changes. Are they sneaking Snickers bars or cigarettes on the side? Lewis says the technology to monitor this kind of thing has improved over the past five years, with apps and sensors on smartphones and smartwatches, as well as other more specific health tracking devices.
It will not prevent people from trying to play the system (since game systems are something that people have evolved to be good at). And the system itself could evolve into something more Orwellian, where behavior is constantly monitored and the inability to make positive adjustments is punished rather than good rewarded behavior.
Lewis recognizes that it is possible, referring to the "social credit" processes of China that have seen ordinary people deny access to services and benefits for rumors. However, he says, governments facing incredible health costs will inevitably look to implement such systems, so perhaps it is better to create a culture of reward rather than denial.
Elevate Health is the right answer? There are many questions to consider. Watch the interview above and tell us what you think in the comments.
Images and videos via Bitsonline, Jon Southurst
