Should My Health Insurance Pay for Peloton?

Was just talking with a friend about health insurance and Apple Watches. Seems he got his health insurance to pay for his Apple Watch series 3 a couple years ago, just by walking a certain amount every day. As we both live in DC, the walking part was easy enough.

This got me thinking about why we don’t see health insurance companies — or employers — paying for bigger ticket items in the same way. It’s pretty well-established by now that physically active people have better health on average, and lower healthcare costs on average (about 9% per year less than the roughly $11k average expenditure, so about $1k).

So how about paying for a Peloton bike? Let’s do the math:

Cost of a single Peloton bike, two pairs of shoes, and subscription for two people for 5 years = $5034 = $503/person/year

$990 lower healthcare costs annually

Savings = $990 - 503 = $487/person/year

30% participation rate * 140 million adults with private insurance = $20 billion savings annually

We might even be able to beat a 30% participation rate, given that the bike is in their house and the live streaming classes (I can personally attest) are motivating — plus the costs at scale would be substantially reduced.

50% participation rate * 140 million adults with private insurance = $34 billion savings annually

What am I missing? Why is this not a thing? Feel free to comment below.

Not me.

Photo credit: onepeloton.com