Aetna customers could get free Apple Watches as part of new partnership

Apple and Aetna reportedly in talks to provide the wearable as a perk to members.

Apple Watch Series 2. Credit: Valentina Palladino

Aetna’s 50,000 employees already use Apple Watches as part of their corporate wellness program, but Aetna may soon extend that perk to its customers. According to a CNBC report, the health insurer has been in talks with Apple to provide free or discounted Apple Watches to its 23 million customers as a member perk.

Aetna sees Apple Watches as a way to further encourage its customers to take more interest in leading healthier lives and tracking their diets better. Calling out diet tracking is peculiar since the Apple Watch doesn’t offer diet tracking, but there are plenty of third-party apps that function as food diaries on your wrist. Either way, Aetna clearly sees the value in the ease of exercise and diet tracking that the Apple Watch could provide its customers.

Aetna reportedly met with Apple executives and hospital chief medical information officers late last week in Southern California to discuss the plan. Apple’s Myoung Cha, with the title “special projects, health,” led the meeting.

Apple and Aetna already have a solid partnership that provides Apple Watches to the company’s employees. This initiative started earlier this year, and the plan was to start subsidizing Apple Watches for a small number of Aetna customers as well. That may have been the trial-run of this new plan, and now the next phases may begin soon. Aetna reportedly plans to provide Apple Watches to all customers starting in early 2018.

Nearly a year ago, an Aetna spokesperson also told Ars that the company would be developing a suite of Aetna apps specifically for iOS for its employees and customers to use along with the Apple Watch. As described, these apps were more medically focused than most already in the App Store. They focused on “care management and wellness” to guide users through a new diagnosis; medical adherence to remind users to take medications and refill prescriptions; personalized health plan on-boarding to help users get the most out of their insurance benefits; and Apple Wallet integration that lets users check deductibles and pay bills. If those apps are indeed the ones Aetna customers use with their free or subsidized Apple Watches, it could give them more of a push to learn more about their health as well as what their insurer can provide to help them get healthier.

CNBC’s report didn’t specify which Apple Watch models would be provided to Aetna customers. Rumors about the next Apple Watch update have been swirling: some say the new model (probably named the Series 3) could have standalone LTE connectivity, allowing it to connect to the Internet without an iPhone nearby. Additional rumors mention the noninvasive, continuous blood sugar monitoring system Apple has been reportedly developing for the Watch. This technology could help diabetics monitor their blood glucose levels, but anything billed as a medical device would have to go through trials and be approved by the FDA first. While Apple could possibly integrate this into an Apple Watch or other device in the future, the feature probably won’t make it into the next Apple Watch model.