If you’ve been paying consideration at everywhere in the previous two years, you in all probability acknowledge the identify Beam Technologies. Beam is the corporate that launched a Bluetooth-connected electrical toothbrush in 2014. (1) Then, upon getting into the dental insurance coverage business with its providing of group plans in 2015, Beam determined to distribute that very same brush to its policyholders to each encourage preventive house care and acquire information on utilization. (2)
If the identify Stride Health sounds new to you, it’s as a result of its partnership with Beam, introduced final week, marks its entry into dental. Initially trying to support the self-employed in health-insurance-buying choices, Stride created an internet platform that generates customized insurance coverage suggestions for its customers, making its calculations with customers’ private info and well being information, in addition to with the premiums and deductibles of the plans included on its platform. (3) Launched in 2014 in California, the corporate grew quickly. (3) Now, it covers 24 states and continues to broaden nationally. (4) According to a Stride Health press launch, the partnership with Beam helps to reply a requirement that Stride acknowledged from its customers: higher, extra inexpensive entry to dental protection for the self-employed. (5)
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For the partnership, Beam and Stride developed new dental plans designed particularly for self-employed people that shall be accessible solely through Stride’s platform. (5) Beam’s plans routinely embody a subscription to Beam Perks, which delivers the Beam brush, refill heads, toothpaste, and floss to the policyholder’s door, freed from cost. (6)
“The addition of Beam’s dental plans represents a major shift for us,” mentioned Stride Health’s CEO and cofounder Noah Langin a press launch. (5) “For medical insurance, we now offer a marketplace of over 200 insurance carriers across the US, but [we] were forced to go in a different direction with dental benefits. I wasn’t satisfied with the coverage available on the market, and neither were our members. So we waited to offer dental until we could find a partner who would build the right plans at the right price, just for our members.” (5)
For Beam, the partnership improves entry to a sure inhabitants of insurance coverage patrons: unbiased contractors. In a weblog, Beam’s CEO and cofounder Alex Frommeyer defined that the labor mannequin created by at present’s sharing economy calls for a new method to advantages equivalent to well being and dental insurance coverage since a lot of the labor comes from unbiased contractors. (6)
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“Stride is a platform for some of the biggest names in the sharing economy, servicing Uber, Postmates, Intuit, and others,” wrote Frommeyer within the weblog. (6) “Stride serves a population that is growing incredibly quickly, on a national scale, and has unique benefits needs,” he mentioned in a press launch. (5) “Their platform is not only pioneering worker protection in the 1099 economy but also represents the future of how most Americans will shop for coverage.” (5)
Editor’s Note: Is this a new era for dental insurance coverage? How do you suppose the sharing economy will have an effect on the dental business sooner or later? Comment under and tell us, or be part of the dialogue on Apex360’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
References
1. Frommeyer A. Meet the all-new Beam brush. Beam Technologies weblog. http://blog.beamtoothbrush.com/2014/12/01/meet-the-all-new-beam-brush/. Published December 1, 2014. Accessed January 14, 2016.
2. Higginbotham S. Meet the startup constructing an insurance coverage enterprise round a related toothbrush. Fortune web site. http://fortune.com/2015/06/26/connected-toothbrush-insurance/. Published June 26, 2015. Accessed January 14, 2016.
3. Temple J. A stride towards easier medical health insurance in California. Re/code web site. http://recode.net/2014/03/17/a-stride-toward-simpler-health-insurance-in-california/. Published March 17, 2014. Accessed January 14, 2016.
4. Do you provide insurance coverage protection for residents of my state? Stride Health web site. http://support.stridehealth.com/hc/en-us/articles/201669710-Do-you-offer-insurance-coverage-for-residents-of-my-state-. Published July 20, 2015. Accessed January 14, 2016.
5. Stride Health companions with Beam Dental to redesign dental care for self-employed Americans [news release]. San Francisco, CA: Stride Health Inc.; January 12, 2016. http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/stride-health-partners-with-beam-dental-redesign-dental-care-self-employed-americans-2087239.htm. Accessed January 14, 2016.
6. Frommeyer A. Why Beam is partnering with Stride Health. Medium weblog. https://medium.com/@AlexFrommeyer/why-beam-is-partnering-with-stride-health-4f2ad2cc462d#.d5vo21i5z. Published January 12, 2016. Accessed January 14, 2016.