Can we Reward Health rather than Pay for Illness?

Bridging Tech and Wellness: A Revolutionary Approach to Health Insurance

Two things many people have are phone banking and car insurance.

Years ago, using your phone to handle your finances was fraught with worries about safety and confidentiality. But now it is the norm to use smartphone apps to do most financial transactions and most people have confidence in the systems that protect them. Car insurance is mandatory, but the costs are offset by no claims bonuses or being monitored when a new driver. Why can’t we combine these commonly accepted practices to bring about a revolution in health care?

With secure technology, worries around confidentiality can be easily assuaged.

So how about insurance companies modifying their health plans to allow reductions or benefits in response to maintaining and/or improving personal health? With todays technology, alongside nearable and wearable sensors, people can get real time information about many aspects of their health and act on it accordingly. This information is easily exchanged with healthcare professionals and serves as a baseline to compare if changes occur. The accuracy of using articificial intelligence and machine learning is ever improving; and in medical situations is running at over 80%. This would mean that people could get good clinical advice without seeking professional help.

Redefining Healthcare: Empowering Individuals and Bolstering Systems for a Healthier Tomorrow

But not everybody has health insurance. Perhaps it is time to question that. In major European countries compulsory insurance is used to top up the government funded services. This works very well and France for example has 4000 neurologists to the UK’s 400 - in a similar population. This insurance is not the same as private insurance, nor as expensive. Could this be a vehicle for future healthcare policy. Inexpensive insurance, operated through a smartphone app, with discounts and benefits matched to healthy activity. This creates three key pillars of modern healthcare: keeping healthy, preventing illness (especially the frequency and severity of many chronic conditions) and detecting serious illness as early as possible.

The rewards for this are many. Better understanding of health and illness in the general population. Better personal service, both in terms of when, how and who to seek help from. Better use of professionals time, with real data to discuss options. And of course better use of resources available. There does not seem to be a downside to this approach, but are people ready? The current model is to fix things when they break and huge disappointment when that is not possible. That will still happen, but in most aspects of life people are more happy when they have more personal control. The NHS is free at the point of delivery, but far from free. Would people pay a small premium to have the service that they want, rather than what the system offers. Are people ready to take more responsibility for their health. These discussions need to be had, as the current system is unsustainable and not supported with enough professional staff to deliver what is needed. A rethink of how we partner with people to reform our current illness services and transition to a true national service for health is well overdue.

Rethinking Health Economics: A Democratic Approach to Our Well-being

Having to pay is a sticking point, but there is a lot of flexibility here. Firstly income tax could be lowered and projected NHS savings factored in. Insurance levels can be reduced according to tax codes and benefits. Plus if everybody owns their health data, they can make money from that instead of the myriad of companies that already do. Also, if this was compulsory, those with private insurance will still be paying in, so the overall funding of the scheme is subsidised. It would therefore seem that this model democratises health care in terms of knowledge, availability and wealth.

Let’s start the debate.

Credits: Meet Roger Bullock , a highly accomplished geriatric psychiatrist with over 30 years of experience in the field of psychiatry. Roger completed his medical training at Keble College, Oxford University, and clinical medical training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. He specialized in psychiatry, specifically geriatric psychiatry, and established the Kingshill Research Centre. With an extensive career, Roger has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, several books, and chapters. He also served as Clinical Tutor and Academic Secretary of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Faculty of Old Age Psychiatry for 8 years. Roger is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has received awards and recognition for his contributions to the field of mental health.

Dive into a brighter health future with myAVOS – the digital coach for those keen on proactive wellness. Your best years are ahead. Seize them!

Download myAVOS from the AppStore today and start your journey to better health and well-being!

A short impression of the capabilities of myAVOS can be seen here on our youTube channel.