(Sandeep Bajaj, Group CIO, Players Health. Photo by author.)
Young athletes may work as hard and be exposed to risks very similar to those of professional athletes, but they generally count on much more modest resources to address those risks. Players Health (Minneapolis) has taken on the mission of creating the safest and most accessible environments for athletes to play the sports they love by creating a variety of solutions including insurance coverage for athletes and the people and institutions they depend on. During our meeting at InsureTech Connect 2022, Players Health’s Group CIO Sandeep Bajaj characterized the company’s approach as “professionalizing” protection for amateur sports.
“Our mission is to make sports safe and accessible for young athletes so that they can pursue their dreams and goals,” Bajaj said. “We’re doing this through an ecosystem that builds an affinity community that surrounds these activities and allows sports organizations to focus on young athletes and parents, and for us to become a one-stop shop to take care of their needs.
The insurance products Players Health distributes include accident and health, general liability, and property. The company plans to introduce a variety of other insurance products aligned with its mission. Bajaj, an insurance technology veteran who spent over 11 years at Everest Re in a variety of senior business and technology roles, including CIO, says that Players Health’s tech platform is based on Socotra (Austin, Texas) core insurance technology and Veruna’s (Hopkinton, Mass.) agency management system. Using these technologies as a foundation, Bajaj says, “We have built our own ecosystem in-house to support athlete safety and related financial services.”
“We have omnichannel distribution through our own MGA, brokerage and direct to consumer model,” Bajaj adds. “We want to engage with our customers the way they want to engage with key focus on a great customer journey and experience.”