How Technology is Changing Group Health Insurance?

Do you still use telegrams when you need to deliver urgent messages? Do you use a bullock-cart pool to work? When was the last time you plugged in a cassette or backed up your laptop on floppy discs? Better still, how about a dial-up connection for all your internet needs?

No no don’t worry I haven’t gone crazy, and gen-Z yes, these unheard things (for you) existed once upon a time. So, what is my point, well my point is that these things, even though wonderful in their time, are impractical today. They make for wonderful memories but only have a place in our hearts. When all spheres of human lives have tasted the technology nectar how could the health fraternity be left out?

Henceforth came the technological advancement of the health insurance sector. From how we buy our policies to how we file the claim and even how the payments are made they have all seen changes and honestly, they have made our lives easier.

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So now let’s take a look at what phases have been technologized in terms of group health insurance plans:

• Firstly, the company offers you the group insurance plan and you need to opt for it. Now imagine going the traditional route, providing your details and that of your dependents (people who you are covering apart from yourself) by filling out forms, providing physical copies of documents, and such. Not only is that an environmental hazard but a cumbersome task on both ends.Thankfully, HR tools (Including group health insurance tool for HR) can be used for listing the group health insurance benefits for an easier understanding and for opting for the plans. You can get a pdf of the network, and after filling out your information online, there is a negligible chance of it being missed. HR these days mostly have tools to assist them with mass communication and enlisting employees payroll, work structure, and benefits (GHI, Life Insurance, and others). Common tools used widely by HR are HRMS, Paychex, ADP. The next step is to receive the medical cards, most companies are now providing e-cards that make it easy to use, and readily available in case an emergency arises.
• When it’s time to claim whether you go cashless or opt for reimbursement, the claim filing process is now seamless and can be settled within hours rather than days that was a part of the earlier process, where physical documents are required to be mailed to the insurance companies. The hospitals, the insurance companies, and TPA all work in liaison and the communication between them has been made seamless through technological advancement. Which ensures you are not waiting days for approvals or information. Claims can be made through your HR or TPA or directly at the insurance company website.

You have read the word TPA a few times now, so we’ll take a minute to explain. Many large corporations that have multiple employees work with TPA when dealing with health insurance benefits. TPA (Third Party Administrators) work as an intermediary between the employees and the insurance companies. They help you file claims, resolve the query, get any relevant information to and from. They bridge the gap so that you don’t have to bother with every minute detail and can focus on health and help the HR reduce their workload where they know the employees are in able hands.

Now the digitalization doesn’t just work on the employee end but the insurance provider as well. In terms of marketing, social media makes it easier to advertise the benefits and plans and has a larger audience. It also helps them ascertain the needs of people and offer the best of plans to the required clientele. AI also helps to map the needs and assimilate data for customization making it more relevant. Cloud services also make for integral parts of optimizing the benefits for the benefits center.

In terms of technology and health insurance, you also need to know 2 terms:–

1. 1. Insurance software: these are software including group health insurance software, that the insurance company uses to perform their day-to-day activities. Anything you can think of, like how you will have an id and password for client management, claim filing system. Storage of documents, notification center, and everything.
   2. Insurance Platform: This is where all this will be integrated and offer you a wholesome product. Where your chatbots or customer service rep can interact with clients and clients can review, buy or get information on plans. This of course is the abridged version of the abridged work that a platform does.

But you get the difference right.

To sum it up, if we know how to use it, technology can be a boon and the technological advancement of the health insurance sector has made it more accessible, relevant, and crucial to our lives. And till the time machines rise and take over we are still the boss!