Veer Gidwaney is the CEO and Founder of Ansel.
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Healthcare in the U.S. is complex, and for many people, it can feel like dealing with an obstacle course—especially when it comes to managing costs and understanding coverage. The problem is widespread, with millions facing medical debt or putting off necessary care because of the cost. These issues, as Veer Gidwaney highlights, have led to significant gaps in financial protection, particularly when it comes to unexpected medical expenses.
Veer is working to address these challenges head-on. Ansel’s mission centers on offering a more reliable solution for the financial strain of health events, aiming to provide better coverage than traditional options that leave gaps in protection. But Veer’s approach isn’t just about building products—it’s about transforming the entire way we think about and approach healthcare costs.
In this interview, Veer discusses how his career in complex industries has shaped his passion for creating simple yet effective financial solutions. He also opens up about the personal journey that led him to focus on healthcare and how he navigates the fine line between vision and practicality when building a company that serves a deeply underserved population.
Enjoy the full interview and discover how Veer is tackling the healthcare industry's toughest problems, one solution at a time.
1. You’ve spent much of your career in industries where most people feel overwhelmed or underserved. What first drew you to working in areas where systems are complex and often deeply frustrating for users?
The answer is honestly pretty simple— the U.S. is the only place where we don’t have a single- payer healthcare system, and the only highly developed country in the world where people have to worry more about the cost than their recovery when they get sick. The numbers say it all— we have about 100 million people with medical debt, thousands of working adults pulling money early out of their 401k to offset their medical expenses, and almost 25% of adults skipping or delaying care because of their potential out-of-pocket exposure.
A lot of the time, it’s really about how well Americans can really handle surprise medical bills, and the reality is that the existing solutions (like Accident Insurance and Critical Illness products) just don’t cover enough, and perform really poorly for people as a result. The reality is the market was ripe for a supplemental solution that, quite simply, pays more claims and gives people the financial protection they need. That’s what drew me to this space.
2. Founders often face the tension between vision and execution. Looking back, how have you learned to reconcile idealism with the compromises reality sometimes demands?
Particularly when it comes to insurance, there’s a lot of stakeholders in the business value chain and regulatory complexity. So navigating that really comes down to breaking down any vision into simple steps and bringing in really great people that believe in the same mission.
When you combine folks from big insurance carriers to small startups to marketing agencies and brokerage firms— each person plays an important role in achieving a mission for a better insurance product.
3. Your work has long involved financial protection tied to health events. What has that taught you personally about how people deal with uncertainty — and how systems should support them?
As I mentioned, a lot of people just aren’t prepared for the financial strain of unexpected health events. In fact, 60% of adults in this country can’t afford a surprise $1,000 medical bill. What people really need is peace of mind and real financial protection for a wide range of injuries and illnesses, so people can get a lot out of one single policy no matter what they face.
The other piece of this is that people tend to struggle with claims, which are often complex and require significant paperwork or have a lot of caveats and restrictions. For this reason, claims need to be simplified, so that there’s no questions around when and if you’ll get paid.
4. You’ve operated in highly regulated spaces where change can be slow and difficult. What habits or mindset shifts have helped you stay persistent when progress felt stuck?
I think you have to operate from the belief that regulators want to help citizens, and if you can demonstrate value to them and make your case for why something matters, they are more than likely to help you. We work with a lot of departments of insurance and state regulators, and see this every day.
5. You’ve built and led teams focused on solving long-term societal problems. How do you keep that focus clear when the daily pressures of running something get noisy?
We spend a lot of time at the beginning of each year defining a clear set of objectives and key results, both at the company level and at the team level. This allows folks to only dedicate their time to activities that drive towards specific goals and keeps us focused and aligned in our common mission.
6. For professionals aspiring to make an impact in fintech and related fields, what advice would you offer regarding building a career that balances innovation with practical execution?
Find out what you really care about, and learn everything you can about it. The hardest aspect of this kind of work isn’t the work itself, it’s maintaining the patience, dedication, and resilience to the work throughout the process of building something new, which will always present challenges. If you’re extremely passionate about what you do, and you really take the time to understand the challenges you’re trying to solve for and why they’re important, it makes for a much more interesting, and gratifying journey.
