Bay Meadows

In 2013 Ali Diab, former Google engineer, experienced a life-threatening medical scare that required emergency abdominal surgery. While traumatic, Diab recovered from the agonizing situation, but he soon faced battles of another sort. His insurance company questioned his medical bills and attempted to reduce much of his coverage, a frustration that is all too common. The result of his experience is the birth of Collective Health, a company that aims to put more power into the hands of the consumer when it comes to medical bill reimbursement.

Based in San Mateo, Collective Health has launched a self-insurance solution for forward thinking companies. Co-founded by Diab and Rajaie Batniji, a Stanford doctor, Collective Health offers health plans to companies with 100 to a few thousand employees that want to self-insure, meaning the employer will pay directly for employee health care bills as the services are provided, rather than make a fixed monthly payment on a pre-packaged health plan.

While there are dozens of health-based apps on the market (think FitBit or WebMD), most are focused on improving or tracking health. Collective Health tackles the other end of the spectrum with its efforts to help individuals and businesses deal with insurance on their own terms, using a cloud based platform that is easy to understand and access.

Collective Health’s launch on August 12^th generated publicity in the Silicon Valley Business Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The company joins numerous tech innovators in San Mateo County. Home to creative companies, such as global brands YouTube, Sony, Franklin Templeton and Oracle, as well as to high-value start-ups GoPro and Marketo, the mid-Peninsula region is increasingly attractive to businesses looking to draw top talent.As we develop community, we want to see how you live or play at Bay Meadows. Share your fun lifestyle photos with our community by using #baymeadowslife in our Fame x Frame Photo Contest. You could WIN $50 or our Grand Prize of $500 at the end of 2014 and be featured in a live pop-up photo gallery exhibit. Click here for official rules. Each month, Bay Meadows will select one photo to WIN a $50 gift card at Whole Foods Market San Mateo. Simply hop on instagram or twitter at tag us using #baymeadowslife or submit up to 10 photos per month to photos@BayMeadows.com .

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