Congrats on the launch guys! We need to invite y'all to Texas Medical Center in Houston. A long of companies here (with employees in the state) that need to know about your product. How's your coverage in southeast TX?
Launch HN: Evry Health (YC W18) – Better health insurance for companies
61–70 of 76 posts
Re: Launch HN: Evry Health (YC W18) – Better health insurance for companies
#62Looking forward to testing this
Re: Launch HN: Evry Health (YC W18) – Better health insurance for companies
#63The phrase "technical solutions to social problems" comes to mind. Read Kenneth Arrow's 1963 paper Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care to understand why health care is a market good, and private sector solutions are not up to the task of providing adequate health care to all.
The solution is for the government to provide health care to all. You are trying to fix things it is only within the government's power to fix -- and the political will is not actually there to fix them because leaving things broken makes vastly more money for all involved.
If you want adequate health care at a reasonable price, emigrate from the USA and live elsewhere.
Re: Launch HN: Evry Health (YC W18) – Better health insurance for companies
#64> We believe the root cause is that the U.S. system is rife with misaligned incentives... Involving "employers" is one of, if not the primary, root causes. I understand you're building a business, and ... you're playing in the same space as others. That may make sense financially, and allow you to take away from business from legacy insurers and save some companies 20% on existing costs. But this doesn't seem like it…
I feel this. I pay $500 a month for insurance with a $6000 deductible.
I would have to have more than $12,000 in medical expenses every year before I would break even on this.
Re: Launch HN: Evry Health (YC W18) – Better health insurance for companies
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
We are embedding several programs into the benefit plan and still charging a lower price. We think its the best solution to the employer demanding positive ROI on the disease management and telehealth based solutions
> We think its the best solution to the employer demanding positive ROI on the disease management and telehealth based solutions Just rereading this one line - again, I'm pretty sure your motives are noble, and perhaps you can move the needle a bit. But... why should employers be demanding positive ROI on something that isn't their core business? "Employers" as a whole, having to learn about various 'insurance' optio…
You nailed it on the head.
Employer based insurance is at the core a monstrosity. I hope these founders make a dent in cost but ultimately i dont see how any ROI will translate to lower industry costs, especially since outcomes-based billing is just another more confusing way to ration care and squeeze independent doctors to work for larger systems that can do the accounting.
And squeeze the little guys, and everyone else ends up paying ASC or Hospital pricing.
The only real solution is to actively get rid of employer based insurance and to break down barriers to independence practice.
I dont see how this startup does either, unfortunately.
Re: Launch HN: Evry Health (YC W18) – Better health insurance for companies
#66Congrats on the launch guys! We need to invite y'all to Texas Medical Center in Houston. A long of companies here (with employees in the state) that need to know about your product. How's your coverage in southeast TX?
@arpitrao, we’d love to meetup in Houston. Our @jstartz26 (COO) is based there. Currently we cover SE TX and Houston with a provider network partner, but we growing our directly contracted network too.
Re: Launch HN: Evry Health (YC W18) – Better health insurance for companies
#67> We believe the root cause is that the U.S. system is rife with misaligned incentives... Involving "employers" is one of, if not the primary, root causes. I understand you're building a business, and ... you're playing in the same space as others. That may make sense financially, and allow you to take away from business from legacy insurers and save some companies 20% on existing costs. But this doesn't seem like it…
I feel this. I pay $500 a month for insurance with a $6000 deductible. I would have to have more than $12,000 in medical expenses every year before I would break even on this.
Hi - Mark here - I'm curious to know what you get for your $500 monthly premium. Do you get anything else of value, any incentive programs, knowledge support, coaching, etc. I am assuming you get free access to telehealth. I would like to know if you use any of these other things
Re: Launch HN: Evry Health (YC W18) – Better health insurance for companies
#68I’m a big fan of any and all alternatives in health care payments. The ACA is a massive influence here that isn’t being discussed though. The free mental health services discussed in the comments by Evry seem generous and excessive on their part, until you realize that the mental health parity rule can easily and casually stick them with $50k or more of bills for in-patient treatment, where over-admission frequently…
> Getting ahead of this and trying to divert patients from this wasteful system is a fantastic and profitable idea for the insurer.
We try to provide on-demand care whenever reasonable and possible. While it increases utilization of things like mental health and telehealth and wellness for us in the short-term, over the long-term it yields benefits in the overall health of the member (especially when considered across a whole population).
> ACA
The ACA brought approximately 40 million net-new insureds into the marketplace who were previously uninsured. It was/is a hugely ambitious law, with (I think) good intentions, that had (to your point) some unintended consequences. Also, many of the initial assumptions going in on the ACA turned out to be far too optimistic.
Re: Launch HN: Evry Health (YC W18) – Better health insurance for companies
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel this. I pay $500 a month for insurance with a $6000 deductible. I would have to have more than $12,000 in medical expenses every year before I would break even on this.
Hi - Mark here - I'm curious to know what you get for your $500 monthly premium. Do you get anything else of value, any incentive programs, knowledge support, coaching, etc. I am assuming you get free access to telehealth. I would like to know if you use any of these other things
I'm not the OP, but my insurance program (BCBSNC) offers some things. I get
* a 'wellness portal' (which... doesn't open anything when I click on it) - nope - goes to 'werally.com'
* a 'nurse support program' - which seems to be a bullet point list of things they say they help me with, but... no call to action, or phone number, or.. anything actionable.
* 'Behavioral Health Support' - which takes me to quartethealth.com, which says their service is free, but it's just the matching portion - services still cost something (and I've got... $7000 in deductibles to hit first, only for 'in-network' - out of network, it's... $35k)
* a 'blog' where I can 'explore articles and videos on fitness, nutrition and more to help keep you healthy.'
* 'nutritional counseling' - 'Simply make an appointment for nutritional counseling with a registered dietitian. If you see an in-network dietitian in an office setting, your copayment can be waived...' - except if you have a high-deductible plan, which is the only thing I can remotely afford.
"Telehealth" services are from 'Teledoc', and are 0% for me once I hit my deductible. Yay.
What I would value is being able to go visit a doctor more than once a year. If I'm physically ill (bad cough, aches, headaches, etc) I would like to be able to go see someone for some basic inspection without it costing hundreds of dollars or more. My wife broke a bone in her foot years ago - this was at least a couple of thousand dollars out of pocket on top of the (at the time)... $7k year in insurance premiums. But... it's my own fault because I 'chose' "high deductible". If I'd just have been willing years ago to commit to paying $12k/year for the two of us, perhaps we might have gotten away with 'out of pocket' for her foot of under $1k.
Essentially, between 'premiums', and 'deductibles' and 'copays', I have to be willing to commit to ... $15k-$20k up front before I see any 'benefit' from a health care encounter. I don't see how this is sustainable, but... I've been saying that for years, and... I'm hanging in there - I don't know how other people do it. 5 years ago a friend's insurance was $1900/month for him, wife and a kid. And.. yes, high deductible.
Re: Launch HN: Evry Health (YC W18) – Better health insurance for companies
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel this. I pay $500 a month for insurance with a $6000 deductible. I would have to have more than $12,000 in medical expenses every year before I would break even on this.
Hi - Mark here - I'm curious to know what you get for your $500 monthly premium. Do you get anything else of value, any incentive programs, knowledge support, coaching, etc. I am assuming you get free access to telehealth. I would like to know if you use any of these other things
They do have free teleheath and I do appreciate that. If I don’t absolutely need to be seen in person, I use the telehealth option. No other features, tbh. It’s a bronze ACA plan in the NY State exchange.
The yearly out of pocket maximum is about $7000 so it’s essentially only for catastrophic situations. I just wish there were a cheaper option. At this point, I’d take a plan with a much higher deductible/ out of pocket limit if the premiums could be half of what they are.