New Insurance Product Launch: How Internet Healthcare and Children's Insurance Are Integrating — 'MamiBao' by MamaKnows and Xiaoyusan

The trend of integrating internet healthcare with insurance continues. On March 8, “Mommy Knows,” a vertical platform specializing in maternal and child health, jointly launched “Mommy Care” with “Xiaoyusan,” an online insurance flash-sale platform. With this move, another major player has joined the ranks of internet healthcare projects combined with commercial insurance.

In fact, this is not the first exploration of collaboration between internet healthcare projects and commercial insurance. Previously, pioneers in vertical fields such as chronic disease management and health consultation had already made attempts in this regard; examples include the partnerships between Chunyu Doctor and PICC, as well as the consortium of Tencent, ZhongAn Insurance, and DXY. However, “Mami Bao,” the product resulting from the collaboration between “Mami Zhidao” and “Xiao Yusan,” is the first offering to combine commercial insurance with women’s and children’s health services.

Let’s first examine a list of selected cases involving collaborations between internet healthcare, health projects, and commercial insurance:

It is not difficult to discern from the table that the collaboration between internet healthcare, health projects, and commercial insurance exhibits the following characteristics:

1. Insurance is mostly a multi-party collaboration.Our primary partners include: internet healthcare projects, internet insurance platforms, and traditional insurance companies.

2. Insurance payers are categorized into three types.One category consists of internet healthcare projects, where the services are primarily purchased by users on the platform. The second category comprises the native user base of the internet healthcare platforms themselves; these users can purchase insurance services offered on the platform while utilizing its features, such as “Mami Bao,” a customized insurance product for users of the Mami Zhidao platform. The third category includes traditional insurance policyholders, who gain access to services provided by internet healthcare projects after purchasing insurance products.

3. Cooperation models include two major categories.One category involves collaborative efforts to develop new insurance products, which includes new offerings proposed within internet healthcare projects and those that insurers seek to develop independently. The other category entails services provided by internet healthcare projects being offered as supplementary benefits to insurance policies.

What Are the Advantages of Internet Healthcare + Insurance?

In collaborations between commercial insurance and internet healthcare projects, medical services mostly serve as value-added benefits to the insurance policies. Under this model, users can access medical services provided by the project, such as health consultations, after purchasing insurance.

Taking "Mami Bao" by Mami Knows as an example, this insurance product has three major advantages:

Advantage 1: Personalized Customization.It is understood that the standout feature of the “Mommy Knows” app is its use of big data algorithms to match mothers with scenario-based, personalized information and online consultation services. This capability also provides robust data support for the development of “Mommy Care.” “Mommy Care” is a product customized by Mommy Knows for its platform users through big data analytics, offering greater relevance and targeted value to its users.

Advantage 2: Integrated Service Bundling.“Mami Bao” integrates insurance services with medical services, allowing policyholders to access emergency care services provided by “Mami Zhidao.” Following the update to version 4.0, “Mami Zhidao” has introduced a rapid consultation feature with a one-minute response time, building upon its existing free clinic offerings to accelerate physician replies and deliver timely medical advice. Consequently, users can leverage the emergency consultation function of “Mami Zhidao” for minor health issues, while directly filing insurance claims through “Mami Bao” for more serious conditions.

Advantage 3: High cost-effectiveness.Compared with traditional insurance, Mami Zhidao and Xiao Yusan have eliminated all intermediaries to offer consumers the most affordable and cost-effective insurance products. Furthermore, as an internet-based insurance product, “Mami Bao” features transparent policies, convenient services, and a straightforward claims process.

Internet Healthcare + Insurance Will Be a Key Component of Commercialization

The strong alliance between internet healthcare projects and commercial insurance will be a major hotspot in 2016.

In reality, China’s basic medical insurance system cannot fully meet the public’s demand for health insurance. The introduction of commercial insurance will significantly supplement market supply, stimulate market vitality, and better satisfy user needs. During the 2016 “Two Sessions,” Yang Chao, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and former President of China Life Insurance Company, stated that while basic medical insurance was originally designed as a universal benefit program covering the entire population, this goal has not yet been fully realized. Therefore, commercial insurance can participate as a beneficial supplement. With the involvement of commercial insurance in the medical insurance system, the public can enjoy enhanced coverage and greater affordability.

The integration of internet healthcare with commercial insurance, and the successive launch of insurance products, serve as a robust supplement to China’s medical security system. “Mami Bao,” the first product launched by Mami Zhidao in collaboration with commercial insurers in the field of maternal and child health, was developed in response to the severe inadequacy of coverage for major pediatric illnesses. The aging population in China is placing increasing pressure on the public medical insurance system, which will inevitably face deficits in its funds in the future. As the government struggles to bear the cost of pediatric medical coverage, commercial insurance has become a necessary supplement. Since public medical insurance does not cover the costs of major childhood diseases, requiring out-of-pocket payments, this imposes a significant burden on ordinary families. If parents purchase specialized pediatric medical insurance, particularly critical illness insurance for children, a lump-sum payment upon diagnosis can help families manage health-related financial risks.

“Mommy Care” is specially customized for children from 30 days old to 17 years old, covering 25 critical illnesses specific to children, including malignant tumors, acute myocardial infarction, blindness in both eyes, and deafness in both ears.

For “Mami Bao,” “Mami Knows” serves as the provider of consultation services and also functions as a sales platform. “Xiao Yu San” is the sales platform, while Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. acts as the underwriter and claims handler.

It is understood that integrating with children's health insurance and providing health management services to policyholders of insurance companies is a significant step in "Mommy Knows" commercialization pilot. The most critical prerequisite for taking this step is having a substantial user base.

A new “My Policy” option has been added to the “Mommy Knows” app page.

“Mommy Knows” is a professional online consultation platform for maternal and infant health, targeting pregnant women and parents with children under the age of 18. This demographic is characterized by rapid word-of-mouth propagation. According to data provided by Mommy Knows, the platform has surpassed 3 million users without large-scale promotional campaigns, achieving a 96% user satisfaction rate and a 64% repeat inquiry rate.

Insurance’s focus on internet healthcare stems from the fact that internet healthcare is building a customer base and information infrastructure that was previously inaccessible to insurers. This is precisely the main reason why the “internet healthcare + insurance” model continues to attract strong interest.

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