RevolutionHealth: Not So Revolutionary
At least that’s what I thought when I first saw the site. I signed up for the preview version of RevolutionHealth yesterday. When I first logged in, I thought that this was just another AJAX heavy, web 2.0 application. I poked around for a little, including checking out an area where you can view information on prescription drugs and what other people’s experience was. While not revolutionary, it was definitely an added value service. I looked around more and noticed features such as searching and rating a doctor (which is definitely useful), as well as a place for tracking your health, which I considered a similar service to Traineo.
After going through most of the site I figured that this is just another web2.0 site on the topic of health. Then I got to the site’s about us page. In addition to reading through Steve Case’s emotional tale of his brother, I read about the membership program that they plan on providing. According to the site:
For $9.95 per month, you can become a Revolution Health member, and as a member, you can call us-24 hours a day-and speak with someone who can help. Whether, it’s a question about a diagnosis, difficulty finding a doctor or issues with your insurance company, we’ll intervene and handle it on your behalf.
What?? For $9.95 I’m going to have someone handle my frustration in dealing with my insurance company and/or doctor. I think that’s pretty cool by itself. Additionally, they plan on offering a useful tool for finding the best insurance plan. I could see getting some great value out of having people provide feedback on their various insurance providers. Also, I think it would be useful to have a tool that automatically suggests a lists of insurance providers based on my preexisting conditions. As of now I don’t know of an alternative place to find such information. If you do please let me know. Either way, it looks like there are better things to come from Revolution Health, I’m excited to see where it leads.