US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hopes Americans will begin adopting health tracking devices. Kennedy told the House this week that health agencies are planning “one of the biggest advertising campaigns” in history to encourage Americans to use wearables.
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“My vision is that every American will be wearing wearables within four years,” Kennedy said. He added that wearable health technology is a key pillar of the agenda “to make America healthy again.”
Health wearables include devices such as continuous glucose monitors (CGM), smartwatches, smart rings, and fitness bands. CGMS monitors a person’s glucose levels throughout the day, detects spikes, and provides recommendations on foods to eat and avoid. Trackers such as smartwatches, smart rings, and fitness bands usually monitor a person’s vitals, such as heart rate, wrist or finger temperature, heart rate fluctuations, and sleep.
These devices include the ability to collect and collect user health data and notify users of injuries or undiagnosed conditions.
The goal of these devices is to track, find and potentially prevent illness and tension, but it is unclear whether Kennedy and Trump surgeon candidate Casey Means (who co-founded the CGM brand level) is highly motivated when selling wearables like glucose trackers.
Glucose management tools like CGMS, which cost around $50-90 on a month’s worth of OTC tracker, are one way to monitor or improve your diet at a more affordable cost than lively prescription options like Ozempic. “You know [Ozempic] It costs $1,300 a month. If you can achieve the same with a $80 wearable, it’s far better for Americans,” Kennedy said.
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If the campaign for widespread adoption of wearables is successful, this impact could be fundamental to this new era of high-tech healthcare. Here’s how this recruitment will affect you:
Wearable super fast
Once Kennedy gets his way, health wearables like the Apple Watch, Oura Ring, Whoop and CGM will become the main way Americans monitor their health on a daily basis.
Many people have already used this technology and do so, and through my reports on these devices, I have come across several stories of users taking health data to the doctor’s office for official diagnosis of conditions.
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There is further integration and collaboration between technology and health brands. We’ve already seen this in certain partnerships, like Oura’s collaboration with Essence Healthcare. All Essence patients receive a free Oura ring to track their health data and take that data to their doctor for medical evaluations. Earlier this year, wellness brand Withings announced an aerobic exercise test. This is the ability to send heart rate data collected via the Withings device for evaluation and feedback to board-certified psychologists + available to members. Just recently, Ultrhuman began blood vision, a $800 annual member of the Medical Institute, partnering with Quest Diagnostics, to ingest vials of blood to predict markers of illness and illness.
What we see through this administration’s health goals is the privatization of the public health sector. Additionally, when most Americans wear and use health trackers, it fundamentally changes how doctors approach their offices and how doctors use their health data for predictive or preventative purposes.
Subsidized wearable?
If Kennedy’s Department of Health encourages widespread adoption of health wearables, then we should imagine that the government would consider making them more affordable or perhaps subsidizing these devices to encourage widespread use. The Apple Watch costs around $300. Wella’s ring costs around $350. A month’s worth of glucose monitor operates between about $50 and $90.
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According to 2023 Research The National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Research revealed that university-educated adults ages 18 to 49 years old were more likely to use health wearables to report with higher household incomes. Research shows People with a higher income generally have a higher healthy outcome. So what about low-income, non-college education Americans who might not be able to afford such devices? All of these devices can be purchased through FSA or HSA funds, but can the costs of these devices be lowered due to additional subsidies? You have to look.
Privacy concerns
Data is an invaluable resource, and health data is money. Data breaches and leaks already put this security at risk data Doctor’s offices and medical facilitiesand if all Americans provide data to high-tech wearables, risk can increase. These health technology brands follow HIPAA regulations, but many of them are considered wellness brands (not medical brands), so data practices and standards differ.
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Alex Hammerstone, Director of Advisory Solutions for Ethical Hacking Company; I told huffpost Breached health data can affect a person’s insurance fees and options. Another expert interviewed for the story suggested that wearables pose “critical security issues.”
If you get the wrong hands, this data can be sold to advertisers or insurers who tend to raise the fees of their healthiest customers. Collecting such important data could lead to the administration’s further monitoring and monitoring of Americans.
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