My Journey Getting a Fitbit Through Insurance
So, I’d heard whispers here and there, you know, people talking about getting fitness trackers covered by their health insurance. Sounded a bit too good to be true, honestly. But hey, doesn’t hurt to check, right? So, I decided to look into my own plan.
First thing I did was pull up my insurance company’s website. Took me a while to even find the login, their site isn’t the friendliest. Once I got in, I started poking around. Didn’t see anything obvious like “FREE FITBIT HERE!” flashing on the screen, unfortunately.
I spent a good bit of time clicking through different sections. Wellness programs, member benefits, preventative care… lots of jargon. Finally, buried deep in some wellness section, I found a mention of fitness device reimbursements or discounts. It wasn’t super clear, so I figured my next step was probably a phone call.
Called up customer service. Got put on hold, the usual routine. Spoke to someone who initially didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. Had to explain it a couple of times. They eventually transferred me to someone in the ‘wellness department’. This person knew about the program.
Turns out, my specific plan had this benefit, but there were steps. Here’s kinda how it went down for me:
- Eligibility Check: First, they had to confirm my plan was eligible. Thankfully, it was. Some plans don’t offer this, so that’s the first hurdle.
- Wellness Portal: I had to log into a separate wellness portal linked through the main insurance site. More passwords to remember, great.
- Program Enrollment: Inside this portal, I had to officially enroll in their ‘healthy living’ or whatever they called it program. Just clicking a button, basically agreeing to… something.
- Finding the Offer: Then, I had to navigate that portal to find the specific offer for the Fitbit. It wasn’t just Fitbit, they had a couple of options, but Fitbit was what I was after.
- Ordering/Claiming: My insurer had a specific link to an online store where I could choose a model (they offered a basic one for free, or discounts on fancier ones). I picked the free one. It felt like ordering from any online shop, but the cost was zeroed out at the end. Some other folks I know had to buy it themselves first and then submit a claim form for reimbursement, which sounds like more hassle.
After placing the order through their portal, it was just a waiting game. They said it could take a few weeks. It actually arrived faster than I expected, maybe about 10 days later? Came in a standard shipping box.
Opened it up, charged it, and got it synced to my phone. Took a little fiddling, like any new gadget. But yeah, it worked.
Was it worth it? Honestly, yeah. It took a bit of digging and a phone call, maybe an hour of my time total figuring it all out and ordering. But hey, I got a brand new Fitbit without paying directly for it. Feels like a small win against the high cost of insurance these days. I’ve actually been using it too, trying to get my step count up. It’s a nice little perk if your insurance offers it, definitely worth investigating if you ask me.