Whelp, it’s the week before Christmas. If your experience has been anything like mine, you probably have felt pretty lonely since Wednesday, when everyone in the universe apparently fled their desks like robbers fleeing the scene of a crime.
It would appear that the pile of deliverables on their desk – including pithy insurance news roundup articles – wasn’t quite as tall as yours.
But that’s okay…because we have (spiked) eggnog and Michael Bublé singing holiday classics to us on Pandora. So we’re locked in, ready to plow through this stuff and start enjoying our holiday!
Oh man…we should probably buy some presents. Putting that one off was a mistake.
It’s okay. We’ve got this. Let’s just keep it together, pour some more ‘nog and get through this. Then we’ll go to the mall.
You know…we never baked those cookies. We told the family we were going to bring those cookies they like. You know, the ones with the walnuts and powdered sugar? Oh man…those take FOREVER to make.
But it’s okay. We’ve got time. It’s just…FRIDAY. It’s FRIDAY? Already? When did that happen?
The holidays are supposed to be about fun, and family and togetherness. Why is this so STRESSFUL. I take back everything I said last week. Holidays? Bah Humbug!
Let’s get this over with so I can go battle the murderous hordes at the mall. Here are some insurance news stories or something…
Five trends that will influence the insurance technology landscape
Aside from this being the most stressful time of the year, the end of December also has the fun distinction of playing host to one million “looking back” and “projecting forward” articles. You know, the lazy ones that talk about a bunch of stuff that happened in the last twelve months, and the ones that (incorrectly) guess what will happen in the next twelve months.
For some reason, the imminent end of the year has this effect on people. They start reflecting back with nostalgia on the (not that distant) past as if the Planet Earth is about to explode. Or, they break out their (clearly broken) crystal balls and magic eight balls to try and figure out what the next revolution around the sun will hold for their country, planet or industry.
Well, here is one of those articles.
This one falls into the latter category – the one that looks ahead – and its written by Jamie Macgregor, SVP at Celent, an insurance industry consulting firm. And it’s actually not that bad.
Jamie claims that there are five different insurance technology trends to anticipate in 2018. One of the most interesting trends he predicts is that it’ll be “put up or shut up” time for insurtech startups. According to Jamie, the ones with effective solutions that can drive measurable results will continue to mature, grow and see increased adoption, while others start to run out of runway – and cash.
Survey: Consumers remain skeptical on telehealth citing insurance coverage uncertainty
It seems like people have been talking about telehealth for a decade. It’s a trend that experts always claim is just around the corner. But then you turn that corner and it’s not there. So the experts say, “oh…ummm…we meant the NEXT corner…” And that repeats ad nauseam.
Look, we can understand the attraction to telehealth. It’s capable of increasing access to healthcare providers – especially specialists – in rural and underserved communities. It can expedite care and get people help more quickly. It can even help make doctors more efficient and enable our horribly under-staffed healthcare industry to serve more people.
But people just don’t seem to dig it. Others simply don’t know it’s even a thing. And this survey backs that up.
According to research reports released (surprisingly) by a telehealth provider, Avizia, 82 percent of consumers are either unsure of telehealth services or have never heard of it. And much of that uncertainty has to do with insurance.
According the report’s authors, “…consumers want to use telehealth as a complement to face-to-face care, mainly for the sake of convenience, but they aren’t certain whether their provider offers telehealth or whether their insurer will pay for it.”
This is something that insurers should address. Telehelath could be a cheaper, more effective way of delivering care. It can also lead to better outcomes and reduced readmissions. All of these things mean lower costs for payers.
SoftBank leads $120 Million funding in fintech startup lemonade
It’s 20 degrees outside…who wants a big ole’ refreshing glass of lemonade? Apparently Softbank.
Lemonade is a new insurance company that offers homeowners and renters policies. They’ve most well known for utilizing AI, bots and other new technologies to make insurance easier for consumers to purchase and use. And their business model is really taking off.
The company is currently licensed to sell insurance in 25 U.S. States. It also will end this year with 90,000 customers, despite initially projecting only 13,000.
Softbank is another in a line of investors in Lemonade. Previous investors include General Catalyst, Alphabet Inc.’s GV and Sequoia Capital. And this Lemonade must be pretty refreshing, because experts value the company at more than $500 Million!
