Insurance Industry Eyes Blockchain as Top Firms Begin Tests

On Dec. 12, the second-largest health insurance company in the United States announced plans to leverage blockchain technology to secure the medical data of all its 40 million members over the next three years.

Being synonymous with trust, blockchain has multiple applications in improving the current health care and insurance infrastructure.

Blockchain in health careThe health care industry possesses a multitude of opportunities for blockchain applications beyond medical records, such as verifying medical credentials for nurses and practitioners; providing visibility into medical trials; fighting counterfeits alongside the pharmaceutical supply chain; and facilitating aftermarket resale of drugs from wholesalers to new distributors.

With increasing data storage centers and decreasing trust between patients, hospitals and supply chain partners, blockchain can make a real impact in the health care industry.

"Not only can blockchain secure consumer medical data, but it can also be used to share medical data in a trusted way between various players vital to the healthcare industry, including healthcare providers, insurance companies, medical associations, government agencies, and patients themselves. Blockchain allows consumers to securely own their health data and make it available to necessary parties as needed. The technology, combined with wearable IoT devices and DNA data, can create a single, unified health profile of person."

Blockchain in insuranceInsuring giants have been using blockchain technology to prevent insurance fraud, digitally track medical records and more.

Cynics point out that there are serious obstacles for blockchain technology in an industry that hasn't even fully embraced the cloud.

Anthem's use of blockchain and its limitationsThe key idea of Anthem's blockchain implementation is not security, but data integrity.

Blockchain adoption on the riseThe amount of money raised by blockchain firms in 2019 has significantly gone down since 2018.

Insurance firms are beginning to trust blockchainInsurance organizations have already started to experiment with blockchain and distributed ledger technology for a few years now.