Opportunities for startups in health insurance industry

[petesalty]

I was in a start-up in the health insurance industry (we just got acquired by a much larger company). While I agree there are some opportunities, mostly in the areas of information, what most people don't realize is that health insurance is highly regulated and hence a very expensive business to be in. It's not like you can just throw up some web site and start selling insurance. It's much more complicated than that.

[samd]

I think most people realize that the medical industry is highly regulated and that's why they overlook the opportunities there.

[krschultz]

That is a great reason to be in the game. Higher barriers to entry behind you are often a good thing.

Plus it seems like we've been seeing a growing trend of posts saying "Web companies are so cheap to start that VC investment isn't necessary". The VCs need somewhere to invest that actually uses the money.

[raheemm]

I think the opportunity lies in helping large health insurance companies becoming more consumer oriented. With the health reforms, these companies have a pool of 30 million customers - most of whom will be buying health insurance directly (instead of via an employer). So health insurance companies now have to figure out how to serve this customer base.

[samd]

There are opportunities for startups all over the place that are mostly ignored because your average 20-something hacker/founder has no idea these problems exist.

Also, transcripts would be nice.

[raheemm]

Thanks. I'll start putting up transcripts in the next few weeks.

[chasingsparks]

I was unaware that the health reform that passed created a more powerful consumer market. Lack of preexisting conditions banning means you can get individual insurance, but most people would opt to get it through an employer for cost reasons -- no?

The measure to create a consumer market -- shifting tax benefits to individuals not corporations -- never was introduced.

(I could be wrong. After 50,000 iterations, I don't think anyone knows what passed.)

[raheemm]

The current uninsured group are mostly low-wage earners (McDonald's workers), self-employed, small businesses or unemployed. Except for the low-wage workers, the rest of the consumers will likely be buying insurance directly from the health insurance companies.

[raheemm]

Last week there was a post on HN about being addicted to information. I am one of those people and this project (IT Leaders Today) is an attempt to make a living on my information addiction. I would appreciate the community's comments on making it better. My nod to Andrew Warner of Mixergy, who is the inspiration behind this project.

[va_coder]

I think few of the problems in the health insurance industry are technical

[DenisM]

Well, how many problems do you need?

[mikecuesta]

There's certainly a lot of opportunity, specifically in enabling the physicians office with more powerful and usable software. Remember, most healthcare in the US still happens within the walls of a small medical practices.

[raheemm]

One area that doctors' offices are hurting is in billing to the insurance companies. Its a whole bunch of paperwork specific to each insurance companies. If a site is created that allows the doctor's office to electronically enter each claim and then that claim is automatically submitted to the insurance company, there would be quite a bit of efficiency at the doctor's office.