InsureTech Meets HealthTech: How Digital Care Bundles Are Becoming a New Growth Lever

India’s healthcare market is undergoing a structural shift. What was once a transactional industry dominated by one-time device sales is being reimagined into a continuous care model powered by technology, financing, and insurance. Enter: digital care bundles - an integrated offering of medical devices, remote healthcare services, and health insurance designed to improve access, spread cost, and drive long-term engagement.

For MedTech startups and device makers, these bundled offerings are fast becoming a new lever for growth - especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities where affordability and accessibility are top challenges. The opportunity? Rethink product as platform. Move from hardware to outcomes.

Why Bundled Healthcare Is Inevitable

India’s medical device industry is projected to grow to USD 50 billion by 2030, while the overall healthcare market is on track to exceed USD 500 billion. Yet, nearly 90 crore Indians remain uninsured, and most MedTech companies still operate on capital-heavy, one-time sales models that don’t align with hospital or consumer purchasing behaviors - especially in non-metro regions.

Digital care bundles present a scalable alternative:

- For hospitals: Subscription models or Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) offerings reduce capital expenditure and align cost with usage.

- For patients: EMI-based payments and bundled insurance reduce upfront burden and improve access to chronic care.

- For MedTech companies: Bundles create recurring revenue, stickiness, and room for outcome-based pricing.

India’s Insurance Landscape: A Catalyst for HealthTech

Despite the size of India’s healthcare market, insurance penetration remains low. Government programs like Ayushman Bharat (PM-JAY) cover 50 crore+ low-income citizens. However, only a small fraction of middle-class Indians have retail health insurance.

This gap is being addressed by a new wave of InsureTech platforms:

• Plum and Onsurity are offering group health benefits bundled with virtual consults, diagnostics, and even wellness tools for small businesses and startups.

• Ditto Insurance helps individuals make informed policy choices with simpler, digital-first experiences.

• Embedded insurance - where coverage is offered alongside a device or service - is making inroads through fintech, pharmacy chains, and diagnostics providers.

These players are leveraging APIs, digital onboarding, and real-time data to integrate insurance seamlessly into broader healthcare journeys.

How Digital Care Bundles Work in Practice

Several models are gaining traction across India’s MedTech and digital health ecosystem:

1. Device + Telehealth + Insurance

Imagine a diabetes care kit bundled with:

• A smart glucometer

• A monthly subscription for virtual consultations

• A ₹5 lakh hospitalization cover for diabetes-related complications

This transforms a medical device from a product to a service-oriented offering that ensures long-term health monitoring.

2. Subscription-Based Chronic Care

Startups like Sugar.fit and Alyve Health are offering holistic chronic care memberships that include diagnostics, coaching, devices, and insurance coverage - all under one monthly fee.

3. Employer-Led Group Benefits

SMEs in Tier-2 cities are using platforms like Onsurity to provide affordable health benefits to employees, including virtual OPD, preventive diagnostics, and group insurance - often starting as low as ₹49/month.

Why Tier-2 and Tier-3 Cities Are the Growth Frontier

Digital care bundles solve several core challenges in non-metro markets:

• Affordability: EMI models and shared-risk pricing reduce patient burden.

• Access: Bundling devices with remote consults and diagnostics overcomes geographic gaps.

• Trust: Insurance inclusion signals legitimacy and builds user confidence.

• Distribution: Partnering with local clinics, pharmacies, and digital-first lenders makes deployment viable.

These bundled solutions are especially effective when they combine vernacular telehealth, digitally linked diagnostics, and simple insurance onboarding - creating a full-stack care experience for underserved geographies.

Rethinking MedTech Business Models

Traditionally, MedTech companies have relied on outright sales or long-cycle hospital procurement. That model is becoming obsolete - especially for capital-intensive or digitally-enabled devices.

New approaches include:

• Device-as-a-Service (DaaS): Pay-per-use or leasing models, already successful in imaging and diagnostics, are gaining traction across specialties.

• Outcome-Based Pricing: Pay when the patient improves - tying revenue to clinical impact.

• SaaS + Hardware Bundles: Recurring revenue through analytics dashboards, remote monitoring tools, or AI modules layered over basic hardware.

• Insurance-Linked Distribution: Embedding device usage into an insurance product that supports disease prevention or early diagnosis.

The future of MedTech isn’t just building devices. It’s building care ecosystems - and bundling is the most scalable route to do so.

A Strategic Framework for Building Digital Bundles

For MedTech leaders ready to explore bundled offerings, consider this roadmap:

1. Identify a chronic use case: Diabetes, hypertension, post-op rehab - any condition requiring ongoing monitoring or repeat usage.

2. Map the care stack: What device + telehealth + diagnostics + insurance combination delivers value?

3. Partner strategically: Work with InsureTechs, telehealth providers, and NBFCs for distribution, underwriting, and credit enablement.

4. Design modularity: Ensure your offering can scale up/down by region, risk profile, or pricing sensitivity.

5. Align with ABDM: Integrate with ABHA IDs and India's health data stack to enable interoperability and faster claims.

This approach isn’t just about product bundling - it’s about business model transformation.

Conclusion: Building for Affordability, Outcomes, and Scale

India’s next wave of MedTech growth won’t come from selling more devices - it will come from integrating financing, care delivery, and insurance into a seamless experience. Digital care bundles are the bridge between innovation and adoption, especially in cost-sensitive and underpenetrated markets.

At GrowthJockey, we help MedTech companies reimagine their GTM models by building subscription-first, ecosystem-integrated solutions that drive real outcomes. From ABHA-ready APIs to insurer partnerships and embedded credit solutions, we architect bundled care strategies that scale.

Because in India, growth comes not from more technology - but from making technology more accessible.

FAQs: Digital Care Bundles and MedTech Strategy

Q1. What are digital care bundles in Indian healthcare?
Integrated offerings that combine medical devices, telehealth services, financing (like EMIs), and health insurance to improve affordability and continuity of care.

Q2. Why are they relevant for Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities?
Because they reduce financial barriers, increase access to specialist care remotely, and improve adoption in cost-sensitive markets.

Q3. How do InsureTech platforms enable this?
They offer API-driven, low-cost, flexible insurance that can be embedded into products and scaled rapidly across geographies and customer types.

Q4. Can MedTech devices be sold with financing or insurance?
Yes - DaaS, EMI models, and group health coverage bundles are already active in diagnostics, monitoring, and chronic disease kits.

Q5. What’s the benefit for MedTech companies?
Recurring revenue, greater product adoption, improved outcomes data, and entry into new, underserved markets.