Original text here from Patrice Bernard (LinkedIn)
What if insurance focused on keeping us healthy rather than just funding restorative medicine? An American startup has developed a comprehensive platform aiming to change the status quo and reduce the reliance on traditional health insurance.
The founders of Truemed believe in a principle that should be a social and economic no-brainer, backed by an abundance of scientific research: a healthy lifestyle is the best medicine, a concept that's at the core of their company's name. Instead of spending fortunes on various treatments to recover from illnesses, it would be wiser for individuals to invest proactively in simple measures to prevent most ailments.
However, putting this into practice is not straightforward. Beyond human psychological biases that delay preventive action, most protection systems are designed to cover or reimburse medical expenses, not to prevent illness from occurring in the first place. Even when contracts increasingly offer such possibilities, the friction involved in utilizing these options tends to deter even the most determined individuals.
This is where Truemed's platform comes in. It enables Americans to easily and transparently use their tax-free health savings account funds—amounting to some $150 billion—to pay for legally eligible wellness expenses such as healthy food, exercise, sleep improvement, sauna (?), acupuncture, and more.
To this end, the startup offers a payment system to its partner providers (verified to be within legal guidelines) that directly debits the cost of services from clients' specialized accounts—if they choose to allocate their savings, of course. Truemed also addresses the final hurdle, which is the need for a medical necessity prescription from a healthcare professional, by capitalizing on officially approved teleconsultation services that became popular during the pandemic.
Truemed's operation model is closely tied to the local context and can't be exactly replicated in other parts of the world. Nonetheless, I'm convinced that the concept can be modified and adapted to different healthcare cultures and environments. The real value comes from removing all operational and psychological barriers that stand in the way of the undeniable benefits of preventative care.
Subscribe to our newsletter:
