When eHarmony.com Meets Healthcare: Bloomberg TV Discusses Getinsured.com
Last week on Bloomberg TV’s “Money Moves” segment, correspondent Deirdre Bolton and Stephen Kraus of Bessemer Venture Partners discussed current challenges in health care IT and the need for more coordinated health systems. They went on to talk about the online health insurance exchanges created by health reform and the role of Getinsured.com in the development of state exchanges.
Currently, Mr. Kraus explained, “there’s a ton of inefficiency and waste in the health care system that can be ameliorated by technology and improved service delivery. One of the things that came out of the [Affordable Care Act] was the need to coordinate care better.” We’ve discussed coordinated care and the medical home model on our blog previously, and this idea is gaining steam as systems are using technology to become more and more connected and improve patient care and outcomes.
Online exchanges, which bring together comparison shopping and enrollment for many different insurance plans, are an example of this new connectedness. Mr. Kraus describes Getinsured.com as an example of a company that is addressing the latest health care challenges by focusing on insurance regulations and the state exchanges. “Individuals who don’t have insurance now – or maybe who do have it now – are better enabled to shop for health care insurance that meets their needs, both in terms of a quality assurance perspective and cost,” he said. That’s exactly what we aim to do: help our consumers find the plan that is right for them.”
In addition, Mr. Kraus explained, “[Getinsured.com is] empowering state exchanges by helping the states create their exchanges. Their technology is like – think about eharmony.com meets health care.”
He concludes the interview by expressing his excitement about the opportunities that lie ahead for Getinsured.com in the next few years. We’re pretty excited, too. As we blogged last week, we recently received a contract from the state of California to help develop the software for its online health insurance exchange. Eventually, the exchange will allow Californians to find out what subsidies they may be eligible for, compare a variety of plans, and enroll in coverage.
Watch the interview on YouTube.
Posted on Monday, July 9th, 2012 at 1:50 pm. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below. Your comments will appear immediately, but the author reserves the right to delete innapropriate comments.