Affordplan: Key to Manage Burden of Medical Expenses
- 14 September 2019 | 1496 Views | By Mint2Save
With so many innovative ideas hitting the block, there have been only some of them that have been in the medical space, and yet only a few of them have been successful enough to stay afloat. Let us learn about this startup making waves in the startup community as well as the medical sector with its unique idea.
“Why do healthcare costs keep rising?” This one question not only bothers the millenials, but also mid aged and veterans. Rise in chronic diseases, demand for better ambulatory services, higher out of pocket expenses, and to top all those, an unregulated market are hampering the idea of affordable healthcare with every stone available. Irrespective of the system being hazy, it cannot be avoided at any costs. When answer to medical emergencies comes down to money, there isn’t much we can do but to save money. However, creating a piggy bank for something unwanted is not exactly one’s desire.
Started in 2016 by Tejbir Singh, an MIT graduate and Hemal Bhatt, an ex-army captain with a management degree from IIM Indore. Affordplan is a merger of FIntech and Healthcare. It is basically a financial enterprise dedicated to just the healthcare industry, it acts as a mediator between hospital, patients and doctors. But don’t confuse it as an insurer! In their own words Affordplan is, “Neither a loan nor an Insurance but just a financial technology platform specifically designed to help customers save and plan better for their medical expenses.”
What does it do?
It saves you from high medical bills by inviting you through planned savings. So, when you incur off the top medical expenses, you are well protected by your own savings.
How does this compare against healthcare and insurance policies? Statistics show that only 6% of the population has private healthcare insurance. This means close to 94% of the population is out of reach from insurance and don’t get quality healthcare and research shows that close to 90% of the expenses are being borne from the pocket of the end-user. The rising costs of affording an year long health insurance is also an issue of major concern.
In concurrence with age and pre-existing medical conditions, insurance does head to become a major expense in one’s annual budget. Many people are, therefore, still view insurance as an expense instead of an indemnity when it comes to health.
With majority of the working / retired population being in the lower and middle-income level group, do they have ready cash when any such medical situation arises?
To close this gap of unaffordability, and to make people ready for emergency medical expenses, Affordplan offers customised Health savings solutions to patients save & pay for their treatment expenses in advance or through flexible and convenient payments. How does it work out for all? Well, the patients get affordable payment solutions and medical institutions and hospitals get zero credit risk on their revenue.
Affordplan proposes itself as a mediator which touts people for a unique savings medium, through extensive technological support, encourages to-be patients to plan, save & pay for their treatment expenses beforehand.
How does it benefit everyone?
Affordplan, through planned and systematic savings, consumers are always ready for upfront medical expenses as and when it happens!
Hospitals and medical institutions benefit as they get upfront payments and without any credit issues involved, that means full revenues this results in increased patient retention, better cash conversion, and best of all zero credit risk.
For Affordplan they get deposits from people which they can earn interest on, plus they earn commissions from their hospital partners. Making it a very attractive business model, earning from both the parties.
How does it all work?
Affordplan mainly targets small and middle-income households and work based on geography. It also targets the hospitals in vicinity and partners with them for a quicker on-boarding of their patients by completing the paperwork in advance.
The hospitals can also guide the patients to dedicated Affordplan kiosks, so that they can understand and subscribe to the plan whichever seems suitable to them.
What do patients get?
Once convinced, while subscribing to a plan of their choice, customers have to make a small down payment, with algorithms at the backend calculating the monthly savings needed for the diagnosis and major diseases. Customers have the option to pay or siphon off these savings, with the amount being deposited with the company.
The technology also enforces financial discipline for customers to pay their dues to ensure the treatment takes place. Further, providing a ready demand to hospitals and medical institutions which allows them to curate and offer customers special discounts on medicines, tests, etc. In case a patient plans to cancel a certain diagnosis at a partner hospital, the amount will be refunded within 24 hours.
Hence in the founder’s words, a patient can save as much as 15-25% on their medical bills through Affordplan including preventing them from wiping out their capital due to any medical emergencies.
Let’s take a test case, we all know the total expenses of a couple expecting a child, hence using Affordplan they can during or even before the pregnancy period, plan and systematically save as the company through the past data has an accurate idea about what the estimated expenditure should and how can the family start saving for it, it even suggests partner hospitals where it can pre-book deliveries and other procedures to ensure seamless entry into the hospital in times of crisis!
What the future holds for Affordplan?
One of the offbeat startups Headquartered in an offbeat location away from all the technological buzz in Delhi, it has plans to expand in Mumbai and Bengaluru. With 20 cr in funding From Kalaari Capital and Prime Venture Partners. The company has released their official apps on iOS and Android and the market ahead of them has a huge potential with more than 300 million people who want affordable and good quality healthcare.
The company has start to garnet success at an exponential rate and hopes to continue to do so with ever increasing customer base and the correct information.
The future seems bright for this fintech cum healthcare startup who plans to raise awareness and make medical bills less jolting and more affordable for its subscribers.