Health insurance in the U.S. remains a complicated and difficult necessity to get access to, especially for Black and Brown Americans in low socioeconomic conditions, but Zing Health, which offers Medicare Advantage HMO plans, is aiming to provide insurance to underserved seniors in Cook County.
Founded last year by Eric Whitaker and Ken Alleyne, and launched out of the innovation lab at the American Medical Association, Zing Health aims to provide a health insurance option to minority people 65 and over that are typically underserved by traditional insurance models.
The plan is available to those eligible for Medicare, covers most Medicare services and provides members with coverage for services that aren’t covered by traditional Medicare, like vision, hearing and dental.
“Many insurers try to figure out how to skew away from diverse populations and we are doing just the opposite—we are running towards that population,” Whitaker said. “Given all of our work in the past, we felt comfortable that we can manage the risk and provide better outcomes for populations that historically were neglected.”
Whitaker, who is an internal medicine physician by training that completed his residency in San Francisco, spent most of his career working in healthcare in Chicago. He worked for Cook County’s health system, and later opened an HIV clinic that primarily served Black residents in Woodlawn. Whitaker also previously served as the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health and founded healthcare investment firm TWG Partners.
Zing Health is Whitaker’s third insurance company. The second company, Symphonix Health, was a Medicare prescription drug plan that sold to UnitedHealth Group in 2016.
Using a tech-forward approach, Zing keeps data on each patient’s conditions, communicates with them, and provides them with preventive services aimed at keeping patients out of emergency rooms, visits that can be extremely expensive. So far, Zing health has 350 clients, Whitaker said.
Zing Health has operated a bit under-the-radar since its founding last year, but recently announced in May that it landed a big investment commitment from New York-based Newlight Partners. The firm said it will invest up to $150 million in Zing Health.
“If people knew we were founded by two Black founders, it would be a challenge to raise money,” Whitaker said. “But on the other hand, I’m motivated by the fact that I want to build a unicorn and I want potential Black founders to know that we built a unicorn. I’m a firm believer that you can’t be what you don’t see.”
“Me being a physician stems from that fact that when I was 16 years old, I saw a Black physician,” Whitaker continued.
He would not disclose exactly how much the startup has received from Newlight so far, but said the company has raised more than $8.6 million in total funding. Zing Health’s other investors include Kapor Capital, Village Global, Lifeforce Capital and Acumen, Whitaker said.
Now, Zing Health employs more than 35 people. On Wednesday, the company announced it hired Mete Sahin as its chief financial officer. Prior to officially joining Zing Health, Sahin was a consult for the startup and previously held roles at UnitedHealth Group.
As a Chicago South Side native, where Whitaker currently lives, he is looking to relocate Zing's downtown headquarters to the Bronzeville neighborhood.
