Bottom Line: A different type of health insurer
Andrew S. Ross, SFGate
September 10, 2009
Martin Watson wants you to know he's not a "villain," like other insurance company leaders have been referred to lately. As the CEO of SeeChange Health, a San Franciscostartup, he's about fixing what traditional health insurers have "screwed up," he says.
To prove it, the former Aetna and UnitedHealthCare executive in a couple weeks is starting California's first new health insurance company in 20 years. It won't be modeled on what he describes as the standard insurance company approach: "We don't want you to call, and we don't want you to claim."
Starting in Fresno and coming early next year to San Francisco and Los Angeles, SeeChange Health is looking to sign up individuals and small businesses for plans that focus primarily on what most traditional insurers don't - preventive medicine and quicker care. For example, members would be encouraged to visit their doctors sooner rather than later to catch and treat potentially serious and chronic conditions, like diabetes, before they become - as is often the case now - far harder and more expensive to deal with.
Similar to the incentive program for its employees established by Pleasanton's Safeway Inc., the plan's "value-based benefits" offer discounted premiums, co-pay waivers and lower deductibles for members who undergo annual health screenings and comply with preventive and "condition-specific" guidelines, like changing-diet, no-smoking and take-your-Lipitor recommendations.
The company, backed by a $40 million investment from Psilos Group Managers LLC., a health care private-equity fund, intends to enroll a half-million members in California. "We're not competing with Blue Cross," says Watson. In Fresno, SeeChange Health (http://www.seechangehealth.com) has signed upCommunity Medical Centers as its hospital partner, and Santé Community Physicians for its physician network. Watson is negotiating with hospitals and physician networks inSan Francisco.
He's confident "the timing is right for a new entrant to come in with a new model that can disrupt the marketplace.
"Obama keeps talking about preventive care, which is exactly what we're offering."
Heartfelt conundrum: Here's one business the push for prevention and wellness is definitely good for: fish farming. As we've become increasingly enamored of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, the demand for oily fish, like salmon, has skyrocketed. And an increasing portion of that demand is being filled by farm-raised fish, which now account for 50 percent of fish consumed globally, according to a just-published Stanford University study.
But what may be good for us is putting a new strain on marine sources. To pump up farmed salmon's omega-3 content, aquaculture farms are using huge quantities of fishmeal and fish oil from wild, oil-rich species, like anchovies and sardines - neither of which, as we know, are much favored in the American diet. "It can take up to 5 pounds of wild fish to produce 1 pound of salmon, and we eat a lot of salmon," said Rosamond Naylor, the study's lead author and a senior fellow at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment.
One way to make salmon farming more sustainable would be to reduce the amount of fish oil used, or find other sources of omega-3 with which to feed the salmon, says the study. Or we could pick up more omega-3 capsules from Walgreens.
Green ribbons: Those of you concerned about scare stories that the United States is losing its edge in green tech might take heart from the just-released "Global Cleantech 100" companies "regarded as having the potential and likelihood to achieve high growth and high market impact." The United States outdistances the rest of the field with 55 companies named. Twenty-nine are from the Bay Area.
We might have a certain home-field advantage, what with San Francisco's Cleantech Group LLC being an organizer of the awards, along with Great Britain's Guardiannewspaper. Plus, venture capitalists like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers contribute to "the collective opinion of hundreds of leading experts" on the list. But still ...
Familiar Bay Area clean tech names on the list (http://links.sfgate.com/ZIDE) include Tesla Motors, Serious Materials, Silver Springs Network andBrightSource Energy. There are also less publicized local companies, like Petaluma's HydroPoint Data Systems, which specializes in "smart water management," andRichmond's MBA Polymers, a plastics recycler.
One other local honoree of note: Menlo Park's advanced battery manufacturer, Imara Corp., which got the cold shoulder from the Department of Energy when it came time to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars in energy efficiency grants last month.
Tweeting at twitter.com/andrewsross. Blogging at sfgate.com/columns/bottomline. Tips, feedback: E-mail bottomline@sfgate.com.
This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
