2021, not even half over yet, has already been a year of tremendous growth for Health Gorilla. Earlier this year, the company announced the completion of our Series B round. We’re excited to capitalize on this momentum, expand our talented team, and build out our business by continuing to provide clean, normalized, actionable health data from an increasing number of labs and health care organizations to a growing network of connected endpoints. Millions of people benefit from our infrastructure delivering the data that fuels digital health applications, patient-facing care providers, public health authorities, government and private payers, and more recently, life insurers.
The vast majority of families do not have enough life insurance to protect themselves in the event of a premature death of a key member of their household. According to a recent industry survey, up to 100 million Americans recognize this protection gap but are so far unpersuaded to purchase life insurance to protect their loved ones. I joined Heath Gorilla to continue my work in ensuring that insurance is as affordable, available, and easy to purchase as it can possibly be. Health Gorilla is positioned to change the life insurance industry in a way very few companies are. I am grateful for the opportunity to help get us there.
Life insurance is one of those rare consumer purchases where the buyer and the seller are well aligned in their respective interests. When we buy a new item, like a new car or smartphone, we accept that it will be obsolete fairly soon, that it might break, and that the seller expects us to buy another one at some point - the fancier the better. But life insurers want their customers to buy and hold policies that fit their needs, and to enjoy a long, healthy life. We as individuals naturally want the latter part of that statement for ourselves as well.
If I told you that $250,000 of benefit is available to a healthy 35-year-old for less per year than what you likely spend per month on your family data plan, then the wisdom of protecting your family’s financial security might start to make more sense. And it’s the use of health data that makes this kind of pricing possible. Unfortunately, today it can take weeks for the insurance company to receive the data they need to be able to provide the coverage we need to protect our family’s financial future - but in the digital age, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Enter Health Gorilla. Using our platform, we can streamline an otherwise tedious buying process by accessing an applicant’s health data, medical history, lab results, and other social determinants of health, potentially with no more effort than verifying the applicant’s identity and receiving their electronic consent.
I feel energized and excited about the opportunity for us to make a difference in the lives of millions of people, by enabling insurers to cut the time and cost of protecting everyone. Uninsured families who lose a key member of their household shouldn’t have to rely on GoFundMe to make ends meet. Families shouldn’t have to struggle like that when affordable life insurance is offered by dozens of quality companies - especially with the reduction in cost and administrative burden facilitated by Health Gorilla. These are exciting times and I look forward to doing my part to deliver innovative ways to connect the information our systems handle every single day with Americans’ need to protect their families’ future.
