Fintech with benefits: Solving healthcare payments

For some time now, fintech has expanded beyond financial services to transform other industries. I have always believed that magic really happens when we apply fintech tools and frameworks to solve real-world problems. If ever there was an industry that needed fixing, it was healthcare.

After an era of fragmented and disparate solutions, there has recently been a marked shift towards a consolidated, integrated, end-to-end platform approach. Discovery and selection of health services are crucial but not sufficient. This is end-to-middle, at best. The prevalence of financial frictions in healthcare makes it clear that it is impossible to fix this system without rethinking how we pay for it.

This intersection between fintech and healthcare represents a substantial opportunity. Annual spending on employer-sponsored health care exceeds $1.5 trillion, providing coverage to approximately 160 million individuals through employer-sponsored health plans.

Targeted solutions have been developed to enable employers to offer more flexible and diverse healthcare services, leveraging digital convenience across a range of health and wellness categories, such as mental health, fertility, nutrition, fitness and more. For employers, this can translate into a competitive advantage in talent acquisition and retention, increased productivity, and reduced expenses associated with claims and sick days.

The proliferation of point solutions is the primary driver of the changing conversation around the need for an end-to-end platform. Especially when the engagement model is layered with outdated payment infrastructure, hindering widespread adoption. There are usually two approaches. Employees sign up directly and must pay upfront, present a receipt and wait for reimbursement. Alternatively, the employer contracts directly with Point Solutions, optimizing the experience for the employee but burdening the employer with excessive administrative burdens such as claims processing, usage reports and payment cycles.

Amid all this friction, the digital orientation of point solutions is more easily consumerized with innovative payment solutions than in other areas of employer-sponsored healthcare.

With this in mind, there are many ways fintech tools and frameworks can transform the end-to-end experience currently burdened by administrative burdens and financial friction.

Here are three examples:

First, the emergence of cash payment models and the salary-based approach, a combination of which can eliminate problems related to claims and inadequate payment terms without inflated prices or surprise fees. It also reduces the information gap between employer and employee. Employees know the full value of their benefits and are empowered to use them in a way that fits their specific personal needs.

Second, provide employees with on-demand virtual company cards integrated into their purchasing journey. This would form the foundation of a much-needed e-commerce experience that can bridge the gap between eligibility and usage.

Third, an innovative spend management system that instantly authorizes transactions. This offers a seamless payment experience as expenses are approved based on pre-defined and adjustable criteria set by the employer.

In essence, the combination of these tools and facilities could allow an employee to purchase a simple app at a low cost – say $13 a month for meditation – or spend a one-time fee on an expensive medical service – say $ 30,000 for IVF – all in one platform.

This is an ambitious and critical step toward the consumerization of employer-sponsored healthcare, but it’s just the beginning.

In the future, fintech innovation will evolve to enable smarter use of all health-related benefits and planning of more expensive services through advanced solutions such as savings or financing. Ultimately, this can drive better holistic and financial management of healthcare by making it easier to plan for healthcare-related financial decisions and costs and optimize spending across payment methods, such as benefit stack choice , solutions and optimal financial vehicles.

With 160 million people dependent on their employers for healthcare, this is a problem worth solving with fintech.

• Mor Grisariu is VP Payments at Fijoya, a Team8 company at the intersection of fintech and healthcare. Mor is a seasoned strategic payments executive and expert with over a decade of experience in fintech innovation. He began his career as a manager for Deloitte Consulting and later led the Israeli branch of Mastercard’s global consultancy, placing emphasis on promoting innovative and creative solutions for the payments industry. At Mastercard, Mor was also part of the European leadership team and managed projects for major European banks, including the creation of issuer digital wallets that made advanced payment solutions accessible to millions of European consumers. She most recently served as VP Payments at Karma, building Karma’s Payments department from the ground up, focusing on creating advanced, intuitive payments accessible to e-commerce users. At Fijoya, Mor is leading the integration of fintech capabilities to transform the way people consume and pay for healthcare.

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