Happy to report that I have earned more money through the Virgin Pulse program than I put into my FSA! Please excuse all the redacted lines, but look – FSA is $130 and Virgin Health is $150 and I’ll get my Level 4 reward cash at the end of this month, too.
If you are a full time COSA employee, there really is no down side to participating in the Virgin Pulse program. Just clip the pedometer on to your waistband (or shoe!) and go about your day. You don’t even have to use the clunky Virgin Pulse Max, you can use a number of other fitness trackers. I use my Fitbit One and love that it syncs my steps to Virgin automatically. I don’t have to upload my steps or anything, but I do visit the site regularly to keep up with challenges and to earn as many extra health miles as possible.
Did you know you can earn up to $500, just for walking around and being active?
Does the program track where you are? No, it’s just a pedometer! If you use the one provided by Virgin, it tracks your movement – there’s no gps or anything fancy on it. Plug it in to your computer and it uploads steps, distance, and calories. If you use another device, well, you’d have to look into that on your own.
Is it really worth it? Yes! The “health miles” you earn add up to money in your FSA. You can then use this money to pay co-pays at office visits, glasses, contacts, prescriptions, anything you would use your FSA contribution dollars towards. And you can earn up to $500 – I’m pushing to reach Level 5 by September.
Aside from the money you’ll earn, you will also be earning health benefits from the program. Once you start tracking your steps, you’ll find yourself trying to up your step count each day, to earn more health miles. Then there’s the challenges: You can create a challenge (which earns you health miles!) and invite your friends to a step challenge or to remind each other to drink 8 glasses of water a day.
With the Virgin Pulse program, COSA is giving us an entertaining way to improve our health. The game feel of the program means we get rewarded for being active, hopefully saving us and the City some money in the long run.
So, sign up, clip on your pedometer, and start walking your way to wealth and health!
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