By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: When Progressive’s Flo Follows Your Health
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Wellness > When Progressive’s Flo Follows Your Health
Wellness

When Progressive’s Flo Follows Your Health

DavidEWilliams
DavidEWilliams
Share
3 Min Read
Image
SHARE

Image

I don’t watch much TV, but when I go to the gym I can’t help but watch Progressive’s perky spokeswoman, Flo helping people with their insurance. My favorites are the ones where she accompanies policyholders on their adventurous outings.

Image

I don’t watch much TV, but when I go to the gym I can’t help but watch Progressive’s perky spokeswoman, Flo helping people with their insurance. My favorites are the ones where she accompanies policyholders on their adventurous outings.

More Read

women and long term care
Women and Long Term Care
How Hospitals Are Using Technology to Improve Patient Access to Care
Midwifery in the U.S.: History, Politics, and Pathways to Practice
mHealth Fitness Trackers Have a Long Way to Go
Eye Care 101: How to Take Care of Your Eyes for Long-Term Health

Progressive has pioneered a clever Snapshot device that is mounted in a policyholder’s car to monitor how safe their driving is. In this day and age of big data, there is a lot of information that can be transmitted and analyzed: acceleration and breaking patterns, time of day, and location, to name a few. Better drivers get discounts, but of course they have to have big brother riding along with them. It’s interesting to me that so many folks are willing to sign up for such a program in order to save a few bucks.

Health insurance for my family costs 10x what we pay for car insurance, and medical costs are also influenced by our behavior. It’s somewhat harder to track health-related behaviors than driving behaviors, but technology is marching along fast enough that these gaps are likely to be bridged over the next few years, especially as smartphones and sensors become more powerful. Imagine some of the information that Snapshot for health could collect:

  • Heart rate and blood pressure throughout the day
  • Sleep patterns
  • Food consumed
  • Amount of exercise
  • Medications consumed –prescribed, OTC, and illicit
  • Sexual partners –and whether safe-sex practices are followed
  • Smoking habits
  • Alchohol consumption –amount drunk, how quickly, peak and average blood alcohol levels
  • Activities undertaken, e.g., sky-diving
  • …and there are many other possibilities

It may seem far-fetched to contemplate this kind of intrusive data collection and analysis, but the technologies are here now or on their way, and the economic imperative is much greater than in car insurance where such techniques are already used. It seems like only a small extension of what employers are doing now with health risk assessments and penalizing smokers. Although various regulations and the Affordable Care Act itself pose barriers to this approach, if it can be shown to be successful in containing health care costs I think we’ll see it pop up as a serious approach within the next decade.

image: monitoring/shutterstock

TAGGED:monitoring
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

dental care
Importance of Good Dental Care for Health and Confidence
Dental health Specialties
October 2, 2025
AI in Healthcare
AI in Healthcare: Technology is Transforming the Global Landscape
Global Healthcare Policy & Law Technology
October 1, 2025
Choosing the Right Swimwear for Health and Safety
News
September 30, 2025
sports concussions
Concussion In Sports: How Common They Are And What You Need To Know
Infographics
September 28, 2025

You Might also Like

Wearables are Improving Clinical Trial Research

April 13, 2016
FitnessHealth carePublic HealthWellness

The Contributions Of A Physiotherapist Help To Lead A Pain-Free Life

March 19, 2020

Doctors 2.0 & You – iHealth Walking Challenge [INFOGRAPHIC]

July 5, 2014
Tips For Urban HSPs
Wellness

Tips for the Urban Highly Sensitive Person

March 5, 2013
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?