The WHY of UPLIFT MUTUALS
Kumar Shailabh
Come February , we will complete two years of setting up a not for profit centralised mutual health risk pool. A pool where families from urban slums, rural and tribal villages are sharing their health risks together.
The numbers are not impressive -no not yet. Are we worried -yes as any enterprise wanting to scale up should be!
Many organisations that we have approached and have had yearlong discussions have decided not to work with us because the mutual model is unknown, unregulated, making our work mighty difficult- for they love our product design and mutual governance model but are wary of the regulatory vacuum(or because of something else!).So much for the start-up ecosystem….phew!
Many of my colleagues some close, some not so close- have been asking me why do it- if it’s not for profit-what will you get ultimately out of it-there is so much competition someone will copy you and make good money-digital insurance is here -the effectiveness we seek from community model can already be achieved by AI- become a health service provider at least! Ayushmaan Bharat seems to be working, not long before you guys disappear!
Somewhere they are all right! For we have all this and field operations of running a health service intensive voluntary health mutual micro insurance to worry for. Me and my team do get sleepless nights thinking all this and more!
Yet the question beckons WHY do we do it? The size of the response to this question keeps changing but at the base lies certain learnings that would like to share, they are not perfect, but they are what keeps us going every day!
There are many other facets where there is a “Why” we do “What” we do- but I guess this irrational feeling of “doing things together” is what has kept us going. It is Why many of team members have not left us even when things were darker than today, it is why some colleagues never give up on us!
We don’t have the might and resources of others in this field but only this conviction that we are here to do good together-lets see how far it gets us ! Do wish us luck or better, help us!
Kumar Shailabh