At KindHealth, an Entrepreneurial Team Blends Health Insurance and AI Experience to Solve Coverage Crisis
When Albert Pomales and Andrew Tomasik teamed up with co-founders Mark Adams and John Constantine to start KindHealth, a company that would untangle the health insurance issue, they brought to the table 18 years in technology development, 20 years in health insurance, and a deep conviction that getting and managing health coverage is needlessly complex.
Together with their team, they have developed a platform that leverages their expertise to build an AI-driven platform that makes it simple for people to assess their healthcare needs, find the best plan, and enrol and manage their coverage. They see it as essential in today’s market.
“People’s expectations are on the rise, and so are the myriad complications related to health insurance,” said Pomales, the health insurance veteran. “At the heart of our AI-based platform is simplicity. That is our ultimate guidepost.”
In using AI to solve the insurance problem, Pomales and Tomasik determined that this technology could drive health insurance solutions by using AI to better understand customers’ needs and provide recommendations for the best insurance plan to fit those needs and budgets.
Tomasik notes that AI often is seen as having three branches: process automation, the performance of repetitive tasks quickly; cognitive insight, the creation of specific strategies for individuals based on data analysis; and cognitive engagement, which takes cognitive insight further to create strategies to interact with individuals. KindHealth’s AI employs each branch.
Pomales’ experience in health insurance sales and customer support, and deep understanding of the industry’s systems, informs KindHealth’s thinking of what its AI needs to examine and what paths to follow. “My background helps KindHealth connect the dots among opportunities and truly make a good recommendation for someone,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tomasik draws on a track record of developing technology solutions that tailor solutions to individual consumers’ preferences and needs. “It starts with truly understanding the consumer’s problems, and what causes them, and then designing a solution to solve those problems,” he said. “In general, consumers share the problem that buying health insurance is complex, expensive and frustrating — but it doesn’t have to be that way.”
KindHealth’s AI can draw on a vast array of information, such as the history of health care usage, ages of any children and tolerance for risk. “We can look at that data and generate smart insights that don’t require humans and are instantly scalable,” Pomales said.
From that, KindHealth creates a better, more robust user experience. “Our system can provide you with an experience that’s unique to how you like to shop, different from what other individuals experience because we get to know you better,” Tomasik said. “The ultimate goal is the best, most intuitive user experience that weeds out the irrelevant for you. AI is just a tool to achieve that.”
And it’s working. Austin-based KindHealth has a robust array of health, dental, vision, life and Medicare insurance offerings that includes more than 250 insurance companies and healthcare.gov policies. KindHealth has helped over 1M people shop, compare, and purchase health insurance plans, collectively saving $5M in health insurance plans.
“As technology evolves and matures, we see an ideal opportunity to put it to use for the greater good,” Tomasik said. “We look forward to being at the forefront of this movement.”
For additional information, please visit: www.kindhealth.co.
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