Blink Health is a four year old People’s Champion, with US$165m
in funding, taking on the behemoth of the US healthcare system.
Geoffrey and Matthew Chaiken (co-founders and brothers) set up
the digital health provider in 2014 with a mission to challenge the
crippling cost of prescription drugs: with 70% of Americans on
medication, and prescription drug costs soaring 384% in the last
fifteen years, they argue, 1 in 3 US patients are now struggling to
afford the cost of their prescription. Something has to change.
Blink Health works with pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturers
to bring all Americans, both insured and uninsured, significantly lower,
more affordable prices on over 15,000 medications. There are no
membership fees, and the process is simple – as long as customers
have a doctor’s prescription, they can simply use Blink Health’s website
or app to place an order. Customers can then choose to have their
medication delivered or to collect from a network of over 35,000
pharmacy partners nationwide, including major stores like Walmart
and Albertsons.
The big idea: The Blink Health Nation.
So how does Blink Health negotiate such significantly low prices –
usually only available to the big insurance companies? Through the
purchasing power of their membership base – the Blink Health Nation.
“It’s primarily about power in numbers,” Geoffrey told CNBC. “So we’re
able to group our Americans together with a whole host of others,
about 25 million, and that gives us the negotiating power to get
much lower prices for all of our users.” (1)
Blink’s business model is built on growing this consumer base – the
more people that join, the greater negotiating leverage they will have,
and the lower prices will drop. This People’s Champion is, then, not just
fighting the system on behalf of its customers, but is actively powered
by them.
Sources
1. https://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/05/blink-health-looks-to-disrupt-relentlessrise-of-drug-prices.html