How blockchain will disrupt health insurance, car insurance, and home services.
Until becoming apart of the blockchain based home services project, Dashing, I wasn’t fully sold on the idea of “the blockchain.” I knew about Bitcoin and Ethereum but just at the surface level. I didn’t see a real use case for the technology but instead thought it was just another new technology that people were slapping onto their products to get more funding.
Joining the Dashing team opened my eyes to the actual usability and practicality of blockchain in real life situations. While before I would nod my head and move on from the topic of Blockchain, I now love chatting with people about ways that they think this cool new tech could “change the world.”
Through my research and conversations with some very brilliant people, I’ve found three very strong use-cases of blockchain. I believe that these industries are strong, vital, and prime for disruption.
Home Services
The home services industry is a $400 billion industry. With an industry that large, you might expect a few big companies to control most of the market. However, the opposite is true. Many small companies make up the majority of the market. Companies like Handy, Thumbtack, and Amazon Home Services are currently trying to take advantage of the large industry, they have yet to succeed.
Why hasn’t a large company taken control of the market? Honestly, it comes down to what the customer wants verses what the company is willing to give. Current customers want more from their home services provider than just a match making service like Handy or Thumbtack. We as customers have outgrown the Yellow Pages, yet these companies are essentially creating the Yellow Pages but online.
How do companies create a better solution?
Creating a better solution isn’t that difficult but it does involve listening to your customers. Many providers assume that what people are used to is what they want. However, people are looking for an easier solution where they can trust their contractor, do less hunting for the right person for the job, and have some power if the contractor doesn’t deliver.
Dashing, the newest home services platform that uses blockchain, tackles the home services market with solid and trustworthy technology. Check out my other article on the home services industry for more info on Dashing.
Car Insurance
Getting in an accident is definitely not the highlight of your day. To make things worse, going through the claims process makes everyday from there on out just as tedious, tiring, and annoying. The issue with claims processing is that it relies heavily on antiquated systems, endless phone calls, and sending information back and forth. In the article Blockchain Use-Cases for The Insurance Industry, Karthik K highlights the ease of use and speed of using an insurance agency that takes advantage of blockchain technology:
With blockchain, most of the necessary information that is required for claims verification can be processed in no-time. Since blockchain can take inputs from a variety of difference sources without tampering any information, insurers can use the data available in the blockchain to track the usage of a asset. Provenance is one major area where insurers can take advantage of blockchain.
I’m sure we would all love a world where instead of spending time playing phone tag with our claims processing agent we could focus on cleaning up our lives after a car accident. So many more important things need to be taken care of after an accident and blockchain could make life that much easier in difficult situations like these.
Health insurance
The health insurance industry is even larger than the home service industry, topping out at around $785 billion. Unlike the home services industry, health insurance is dominated by a few large companies. While these companies like Aetna, Anthem, Humana, and United Health care have controlled large portions of the market for years, many customers (myself included) are getting fed-up with the inflexibility, high cost, and feeling of helplessness that they get from their providers. Customers want an insurance company that is flexible enough to work with their modern lives.
Enter block chain based insurance services. While blockchain has seemingly endless applications in health insurance, Deloitte brings together six strong and feasible applications:
- Comprehensive health records
- Smart contracts for collecting data
- Fighting fraud
- Quicker updating of providers
- Simplifying the process of switching providers, using a new provider, and working with your current provider.
- Creating a better client to insurer relationship.
Customers want more from their insurer and health care. Blockchain could very well make the health insurance industry easier to navigate which means an easier way for people to get the health care they need.
I’m always interested in new and exciting ways to use cool tech. If you have any ideas please send them my way!