The perfect customerINVESTORS have poured billions of dollars into “fintech” startups, creating hundreds of new firms determined to shake up lending, payments, broking and data, among other financial niches. Insurance, however, has not yet been subject to the same melee. That may be changing.
Insurance is tricky to break into, for two reasons. The most important is regulation. Health insurance—or its American version, at least—may be the most heavily regulated industry in the world. Before a company can even offer a policy, it must have multiple approvals from state and often city agencies and then negotiate agreements with local hospitals.
Running the gauntlet of these regulations is a costly and time-consuming process. A company that set up shop today could not issue any policies before 2018 at the very earliest, says Mario Schlosser, chief executive of Oscar, a company founded in 2012 to provide health insurance to individuals online. It has attracted attention not least because it has managed to secure all the necessary paperwork.
The second obstacle is capital. Fintech firms typically receive...Continue reading
Source: Business and finance http://ift.tt/1JIsEjn
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