30 Day Challenge - Day 1 - Blockchain in Insurance Claims
You may be wondering where this ADDITIONAL challenge is coming from yet again. Well it seems like challenges tend to be some of the most fun things that you can participate in on Steemit, and as a new user it is a great opportunity to get to know new users too!
So as I understand the challenge that @dragosroua has laid out, each user is supposed to write an article each day about a topic that they know about, or a topic that they are interested in and want to learn more about. As I understand, the topic can change everyday or you can keep talking about a topic more and more as you learn more about it!
The topic that I want to talk about today is something I have continually been reading about out of interest as well as because it is part of my job. It also seems like a pretty great option to go with since EVERYONE here is obviously interested in blockchain to some extent, right? Well obviously blockchain is used in the currency we love and all the facets of crypto that we are working with.
What is also really interesting is that industries in all different areas are looking to incorporate blockchain to automate processes. New startup insurance companies called "Insurtech" companies are coming up to do this to take down the insurance giants in both the commercial and personal line industry. One of the examples of using blockchain for insurance that I read about today was for claims. Instead of having to go through a claims adjuster every time an accident happened with something like a car, there would be sensors on the car that would detect the damage done at the time of the accident that would recheck with blockchain data to form the payout amount. The payout would then be done IMMEDIATELY through the blockchain instead of the insured person having to wait days to weeks while talking to a claims agent.
Obviously this is going to take away A LOT of jobs is the only thing that I am worried about. There are so many claims specialists and the amount needed would go down significantly since the only reason someone would need to talk to one is with an issue with the automated technology, which would not be very often.
I probably sounded rather vague with a lot of this instead of getting into detail, but that was not really done on purpose. I am still in the process of fully understanding the implications of how this implementation would take place. If anyone has any knowledge that I didn't know, then please feel free to share! I am just learning as I go along .The one issue that I foresee about blockchain in the insurance industry is REGULATION. Insurance is one of the most regulated industries in the world so getting this to be implemented will take quite some time!
Oh man, I've got no idea how that would work. The claims adjuster investigating the claim also needs to asses blame. It's really easy to determine that an accident happened - if the car is totaled for example. It's much harder for us to prove whether or not it is the driver's fault (and thus whether or not they deserve a fat settlement).
That being said I am a huge fan of the potential for smart contracts to reshape how payouts are made. Instead of a closed off bureaucratic system, claimants could see exactly where they were in the process and why.
Oh you're definitely right and as much as at first glance it seems like I'm saying I'm an "expert" because I work in the industry, I have no idea a lot of the specifics too. I think it would reduce the amount of claims adjusters for different areas of insurance, maybe not necessarily auto.
that's kind of the way steemit and steem got started, ned was out to bring blockhain to the insurance business, ended up with this :D
I'm not a fan personally, I think people should be responsible towards others and property, so when you break something you make amends, hopefully more people have kind hearts and there will be less reliance on industry and automation :)
cheers to the #challnge30days and @dragosroua ;)
I owe my blogging beginnings to him and his initiative :)
I had no idea that was how Steemit got started. Well I'm glad that we ended up with this!
I like your sentiment at people being more responsible, I was thinking more along the lines of commercial line insurance for this too :).
sounds interesting, how so, everyone pitches in? naah that sounds like communal insurance, I suppose it's a term I've missed running into
Nope, so commercial would be more along the lines of insuring businesses small or large. A lot of the times this translates to one commercial insurance company (Chubb for example) insuring 5000 UPS trucks for example. Construction projects being insured go through commercial insurance companies too, no matter small or large really. Could be as large as building a new skyscraper. Hope that makes sense somewhat.