Imagine the following scenario: you’re on a business trip in
Brazil. Everything is going well, until you slip and fall. You’re
in a lot of pain. You immediately call your travel insurance pro-vider
and ask for the nearest hospital in their network. You go
through the admissions process, but it’s taking a long time to see
a doctor. An administrator informs you they haven’t been able to
confirm payment and, unfortunately, they can’t provide treatment
until they do. You’re now stuck at the hospital in an unfamiliar
country, dealing with an injury and wondering why your insur-ance
isn’t helping.
Globalization is sending workers to far-flung locations, and that
is creating unique challenges for benefits providers and interna-tional
insurance companies. The ability to transfer money in a
timely and accurate manner, the lack of transparency into payment
finance
status, heavy intermediary fees and failed or returned transactions
are common headaches. But new technologies are helping insurers
make quicker and more accurate payments – getting their clients
the help they need, when they need it.
Take blockchain as an example. In the media, blockchain has be-come
synonymous with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. While the
crypto space is still in its infancy, companies are continuously find-ing
new and exciting uses for its underlying technology. For those
who may not know blockchain well, think of it like a ledger that’s
been shared across a network of computers. This network is de-signed
to update regularly, and companies with access can provide
payment statuses and get updates in real time. For the example
above in Brazil, when the payment is executed, both parties can
see updates at every stage of the payment lifecycle and can view its
Going
Global
HOW BLOCKCHAIN SPEEDS UP THE INSURANCE PROCESS
By Corinne MacMillan
Supphachai Salaeman / Shutterstock.com
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ FEBRUARY 2018 ❚ 29
/HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA