Sursum

Innovative financing options for artists are exploding

The centuries-old patronage model for the arts is experiencing incredible disruption- and is being democratized in the process.  The spectrum runs from Kickstarter (amazing) to sites that help musicians sell shares in their profits to early fans (video below).  Love it.   

 

We need Mint -- but for Healthcare

 We need a service that makes buying and using healthcare easy (kind of like what Mint.com does for financial services.)  Simple.  Trackable.  Contextual decision support.  Fun might be pushing it, but at least the service could offer a great user experience.

I think this service could have 3 basic components:

(1) HealthGenie - this is basically an open actuarial database that helps me understand my risk given some basic demographic and lifestyle information.  It would help me understand my likely needs in the coming year.  Its a consumer view into the (heretofore) 'proprietary' insurance algorithms. 

(2) Plan details, rules and costs - this rolls up all the fine print in each plan such that I can easily pivot on different companies and the plans offered by those companies.  It also takes into account the average costs for each service / procedure from my zip code so I am never blindsided for things that come up.

(3) Risk-o-meter - this helps me understand the risk I am covering and where I am potentially vulnerable.  Its probably a very simple chart.  If I am employed, and have a company-sponsored plan, it helps me understand what I could be on the hook for in terms of out-of-pocket expenses.  If I am unemployed, and looking for a plan that is not company-sponsored, this helps me understand potentially catastrophic situations and how I can mitigate.

An extra cool component of this service would be a screen scraper (a Yodlee-like service) to pull my claim information into a central tracking and resolution system.  It additionally could include a ratings / customer satisfaction component.

Put another way: I need some decision support for healthcare-- based on my circumstances and risk tolerance.   As health plans seek to shift costs towards consumers, we'll all need tools to help us make informed decisions, shop around and get the most out of the plans we choose.

Somewhat paradoxically, if this service is properly built, it can be a transparent and trusted tool for consumers while also being a sales tool for insurance companies.  I know, weird -- but since people typically overpay for risk reduction (especially when the risks are well explained) a too such as this could effectively up-sell consumers on more comprehensive insurance plans.

Citibank needs an App Store

Who is going to launch the first bank/brokerage account that acts as "a platform" - built for integration with a third-party ecosystem of applications?

Taking the Facebook or iPhone model to banking needs to be done.  There are regulatory hurdles to be cleared, but they are surmountable: Paypal, for instance, does not have a banking charter and performs almost all core banking activities.

In this model, the bank owns your "profile," which sits with your deposit account.  Apps use this profile to deliver services that are interesting and valuable to you - and compete for your business openly on the platform.  Data gets shared two ways, always with explicit authorization of the user.  

Instead of billpay, you have a network of friends and vendors who you can easily transfer funds to.

Traditional financial services will not be able to pull this off because of their reliance on cross-sell (ie customer captivity.)  And that leaves plenty of room for a new kind of financial services provider - one that is open, transparent, integrated and maniacally focused on delivering a great experience to its customers.