Insurance — Changing trends

Health Insurance is a multi billion dollar industry in the US with more than 90% of all Americans having a health insurance cover. (thanks to Obamacare..). But why do Americans share a strong dislike for the industry?? It is something to do with Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Without delving into the psychology of the Insurance customer, I’d like to look at the coin from the other side.

Typically people engage with the insurance companies only when they:

a) Buy an Insurance plan

b) Renegotiate premiums

c) Claim Insurance

What should Insurance companies do to gain the trust of people?

All a citizen cares for is their own health.(though they usually don’t act on it). Unhealthy lifestyles have been a major cause of concern for the world health in general. Insurance companies are bearing the brunt of this and are passing on the cost to the customer in the form of high premiums. People believe that they don’t deserve such high premiums and tend to opt out, which puts them at further risk.

Can we have a system that is a win-win for both parties?

I reckon we do. If Insurance companies can take their engagement beyond the 3 conversations listed above and actually care for their customers, it would be great win-win. Insurance companies can ‘motivate’ people to be more healthy by incentivising them to do so. The healthcare, and the Insurance industries are slowly moving from a preventive healthcare system to a curative one with companies such as John Hancock Insurance giving cheaper plans to people who wear a Fitbit. How cool is that! What the companies are really aiming for is to motivate people to stay healthy and award discounts to people who work towards it. This way of incentivising should cross barriers and be a part of a person’s everyday life.

One such idea that I am working on is a Pee Device that can be installed in any toilet. The device can capture realtime info about a person’s health every time they pee and send alerts to Healthcare providers. Though the insurance companies are not in the loop with respect to data tracking, they can watch out for any symptoms that if untreated could become catastrophes.

I will share the technical narrative of the device in a separate blogpost but for now, you can check our system diagram.