How AI is helping SMBs & their advisors bridge the health care divide

For those entrusted with selecting benefits for their smaller businesses, the challenge of providing enticing packages to employees has long been an uphill battle. In a landscape dominated by corporate giants, the odds have often seemed insurmountable. Legacy insurance providers hold all the cards, leveraging bulk discounts and leaving SMBs struggling to secure affordable health care options for their teams. This disparity highlights a significant gap in coverage between full-time workers at larger companies and the often diverse workforce of smaller ventures, which may include skills-based, shift, and part-time workers. This burden not only affects individuals but also impacts our economy as a whole.

Yet, amidst these challenges, a glimmer of hope has emerged in the form of AI.

Traditionally viewed as the domain of tech giants and high-paying industries, AI is now democratizing access to quality health care. With AI-driven analytics and decision-making tools, payers are ushering in a new era of fairness and efficiency in health care provision and offering SMBs a chance to level the playing field. While benefits advisors continue to grapple with market complexities in order to provide the best options possible,, smaller employers have historically struggled to secure favorable terms for their teams.

Now liberated from the constraints of bulk bargaining, SMBs can tap into quality health care plans tailored to the unique needs of their employees, all while maintaining cost efficiency. Imagine a world where fragmented data becomes a thing of the past, and AI seamlessly compiles disparate data points into bespoke health plans designed to optimize both care and costs. Picture being able to recruit top talent with superior health care benefits.

AI revolutionizes the way benefits brokers and advisors navigate the complex landscape of health care insurance. By harnessing the power of AI to compile and analyze vast amounts of data, advisors can tailor health care plans to the unique needs of each company’s workforce. This ensures both quality care and cost efficiency. Ultimately, AI empowers advisors to level the playing field, and enables them to provide competitive health care benefits that rival those offered by corporate giants, thus bridging the gap in coverage between small and large employers.

Payers and providers are also leveraging AI and analytics, not just for data aggregation but also to enhance diagnostics, predict health outcomes, and streamline administrative tasks. Payers receive and ingest millions of messy, misformatted data points from different providers, data suppliers, and vendors daily. Over 1.2 billion clinical documents are produced annually in the U.S., with 80% of medical data being unstructured. This fragmented data isn’t serving anyone. With AI, data points can be easily compiled and used to build customized health plans that fit the needs of the employees. For small businesses, this means being able to offer quality plans at a reasonable cost for employers. Far from impersonal, AI-driven solutions have the potential to elevate the standard of care, empowering HR teams to better support their employees’ health and wellbeing.

As a former Palantir engineer deeply immersed in the world of AI and industry, I recognize the complexity and nuance of applying AI. Despite the hurdles, it’s clear we have potential here to enable small businesses and their benefits advisors to compete with larger companies and offer robust health care benefits that rival those of corporate giants. Let’s embrace these new possibilities and pave the way for a future where healthcare disparities between small and large employers are a thing of the past.

Ty Wang is Co-founder & CEO of Angle Health.