5HT #129: ideas for payers going DTC, sleeping with your dog, and 3 more

Right now, the experience with your insurance company mostly suuuucks. 👎

This is partly because payers have traditionally focused on selling to employers, so they don't really have to super serve you. IMO, tying health insurance to employers is at the core of what is wrong with our healthcare system. (Oscar’s Mario Schlosser recently called it “the root of all idiocy in US healthcare” when talking about GLP-1 access.) 

I recently wrote about how pharma co’s are going more DTC, well, why not health insurance companies too? I think it's time for payers to think more seriously about consumer health-ifying,

As we move toward a world with more plans and more CHOICEs, payers will have to find a way to stand out to consumers—or fall behind.

And I have some ideas! Here’s where I’d start investing:

💡 AI navigation. Meet Indy (your insurance buddy), an AI assistant that explains your deductible, finds covered specialists, and estimates what you’ll pay—AND then takes the action for you a la Instinct/Muse. People fundamentally want to be able to navigate their insurance better, and AI can help address this better than ever.

Buuuut you also need to get people to use it. A friend who runs Sana Benefits, a health insurance plan for small businesses, is taking a clever approach in offering employers a meaningful discount for choosing a plan where members must navigate care through their chat experience. It’s a genius forcing mechanism that can help steer people toward better care at lower costs.

💡A money dashboard. Imagine a Monarch-style interface for your medical bills, deductible, out-of-pocket max, and expected costs. Borrow the best of fintech to show members what they’ve spent, what they owe, and how to get more from their benefits. My bet is this would make people use healthcare more judiciously and thoughtfully.

💡Shoppable care. Think a General Medicine-like interface where you can shop for all in-network care. Let’s say you know what you need already—maybe an MRI, maybe a flu shot, whatever. Now, instead of the worst directory that’s ever existed, you can easily search through a product catalog, compare covered providers with transparent prices, then book. It basically goes from being an impossible scavenger hunt to a simple checkout—part of why I think General Medicine is so revolutionary. (And if you need a referral, imagine this includes easily schedulable options to see your PCP via telehealth.)

💡Points! You already pay a premium every month, so imagine you can use a payer co-branded card (tied to your bank account) where you get points that can be redeemed for health benefits offered by your health plan. Points and rewards for spending on more healthy things leads to more healthy things! This is actually something we started working on at my last startup, Ness, and I still think it's a really good, exciting idea consumers/members would be into

💡Proactive health recommendations. Finally, let’s borrow from concierge medicine to help people stay ahead of their health. I'm not talking about full-body MRIs here, but more like “don't forget to get your colonoscopy!” with a helpful timeline customized to your age, your gender, maybe your family history and even genetics, labs, etc. Something like this could transform your relationship with health insurance from reactive to proactive—and even maybe make it positive. Gasp!

Bottom line: Any one of these would be a huge step toward rebuilding trust with health insurance companies, improving health outcomes, and helping serve the ultimate end user: consumers (which, in turn, should drive more business and reduce costs, just saying).

Last month, I predicted we were going to see the most interesting decade of healthcare marketing ever. And a great example of this is this new commercial from Ro: 

Ro didn’t just hire Megan Fox to talk about an ED pill, but lol they turned her into one? She is the pill: red catsuit, Sparks logo, talking in the first person, taking over Times Square. It’s a lot and controversial and I think it’s brilliant. 👏 Expect more like this, whether you like it or not.

I recently joked about how I’ve been fighting a losing battle against our dog, King Arthur (his friends call him “Artie”), sleeping in bed with us. Turns out, he’s not disturbing our sleep but, er, we might be disturbing his? 😅

Lol @ “did a dog write this.” 😂

The above study used Fitbit-like activity trackers to monitor the nighttime activity of 38 dogs and their 25 hoomans. Its results contradicted some earlier studies and found no difference between dogs sleeping directly in the bed with people and those sleeping nearby.

I’d say from personal, anecdotal experience this is complete and utter crap. My dog moving around in bed drives me crazy. Buuut maybe that’s just me?

There’s a right time and a wrong time to work with a branding agency. 

The wrong time 👎, imo, is when they charge an obscene amount, have a big team with super junior folks, and it’s spray and pray what kind of quality work you get. 

The right time 👍 is when the founders are still engaged, creative talent is top-tier (no B or C teams!), and there's a reallyyy strong point of view/playbook.

I’ve worked with something like 10+ brand agencies while advising, consulting, and building companies over the last 20 years. And, in the last couple, Herman-Scheer became my go-to recommendation.

After joining as a senior advisor last year,  they’ve done amazing work for co’s I introduced them to like Counsel Health, Develop Health, Gravie, Joyce Health, etc. They’ve also done great work for other brands you probably already know and love like Native, Myo, Neuro, Bobbie, Lifeforce, Fatty15, Spring Health, etc. There are some very exciting new brands coming out soon, too! 

Plus, along the way I’ve become friends with founders, Chapin Herman and John Scheer. 

They only work in health—but their breadth is awesome, from B2B healthcare to CPG wellness—and do it all reallyyyy well. Worth saying they don’t just do brand design or redesigns, they do a lot of other design work and extensions (and at least three brands I’ve introduced them to have gone on to do follow-on projects with them). Anyway, naturally, I begged them to help me with Fixie Dust. 

Most agencies just want to please the client. What I appreciate most about Herman-Scheer is their willingness to push, prod, and poke you while bringing completely new ideas.

For example, I had a general vision for Fixie Dust that was very fantasy fairy forward. Sparkles and magic and all that. Though I also wanted it to be grounded in science, too! So, they came back with a couple of directions—including one completely unexpected option I ended up liking more than my original idea. One more focused on brain scans than sparkles… and that’s actually the one we went with! 😳

Bottom line: I’m a big fan—and happy to make a warm intro when the time is right for your brand.

Move over fidget spinners, fidget rings, and those push bubble things, because there’s a new toy in town to distract your distraction: fidget magnets. 

Lately I’ve been super into ClickiKeys, a set of six silent magnetic fidget balls I keep at my desk. (What can I say, I love a good desk toy.) My favorite part is the texture. Each ball has a different textured surface, which is oddly satisfying. They’re silent, too!

But there’s a bigger story here than (just) my growing desk-toy collection: all the different ways brands are tackling focus.

Productivity tools (I use this time ball—yes ANOTHER desk toy I wrote about here 😆) help us structure our time. Noise-canceling headphones help us tune out background noise. App blockers like Brick literally block digital distractions. Fidget toys help keep our hands entertained. And I’m coming in hot 🔥 from the CPG side with Fixie Dust, a fast-acting focus powder that helps you beat the 2pm wall, right?

It’s all different products with the same desire: bring life back into focus (and away from the very many distractions). 

IMO there’s still a huge opportunity here for brands. Heck, I just wrote about the opportunity for a CGM for attention a few weeks ago.

If you’re building in the focus space—whether it’s the next fidget device or brain wearable—I want to know about it.

3 other healthyish things I’m into right now: 

Most clicked last week: This insect bite healer slapped. 🦟

👋 Who are you again? I’m Derek Flanzraich, and I’m in the business of healthyish. I founded two venture-backed startups–Greatist (👍) and Ness (👎)—and helped dozens of brands you know grow including Ro, GoodRx, Midi, BetterHelp, and LMNT. I now run Healthyish Content, plus a few other healthyish things (like Fixie Dust, launching this fall).

Every Thursday, I share what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s next in consumer health. (Disclosure: I invest in and advise companies in this space—when I cover one, I'll say so.) I sometimes add affiliate links, but they influence my picks zero.

See something smart, strange, or seriously overhyped? Hit reply, I respond to every email.