Why simplicity wins with Scott Williams

This conversation with Scott Williams offers a useful lens on where healthcare and private health insurance are heading.

The system is under pressure from rising costs, growing mental health demand, and increasing complexity. Most insurers have responded by adding more, more products, more tiers, more variation. Police Health has taken a different path, and that choice points to a different way forward.

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Built for a community, not a market

Police Health was created to serve a defined group, police and their families. Nearly 90 years on, that origin still shapes how the organisation operates.

That clarity shows up in a few ways, a deep understanding of member needs, product design grounded in real-world use, and trust that translates into ~95–96% retention. This is product-market fit at a community level.

Police officers are more likely to insure themselves because they see what can go wrong every day. As Scott put it:

“They can see what can go wrong… they’re naturally people that insure themselves up.”

That lived experience shifts how insurance is valued. It becomes part of how people manage risk, rather than something they reluctantly purchase.

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The power of simplicity in a system under pressure

Police Health offers a single hospital product, gold. No bronze, no silver, no “silver plus”.

In a market built on segmentation, that stands out. Through a future lens, it also makes sense. As healthcare becomes more complex, the ability to simplify becomes a strategic advantage.

A simpler product set reduces operational overhead, limits failure points, and makes value clearer for members. It also supports more stable pricing. Scott shared that over a multi-year period, their gold product increased far less than comparable products in the market.

With everyone on the same product, risk is shared more evenly. Scott framed it in simple terms:

“If everybody’s in and everyone’s paying the same amount… there’s ups and downs, but you can keep the product very well priced.”

That aligns closely with the original intent of community rating.

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When product design starts working against the future

The industry did not arrive at its current structure by accident. Product tiers, exclusions, and variation were introduced with good intentions.

Over time, the side effects have become clearer.

Gold products increasingly concentrate high claimers. Prices rise. Affordability becomes the dominant issue. Even funds offering lower-cost, more limited products are seeing affordability come through as the top concern from members.

Scott was candid about how some of these shifts played out:

“I genuinely don’t believe that was driven by the consumer… it was what was sold to members.”

That leads to a harder question. Are current product structures helping the system function better, or are they optimising individual parts at the expense of the whole?

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Designing for real health needs, not average ones

Healthcare is moving towards more personalised, preventative, and continuous models of care. Product design needs to keep pace.

Police Health provides a practical example. Mental health is central. Police are exposed to cumulative trauma over time, not just isolated events.

Scott described it as:

“This constant repetitive exposure to challenging environments… that most of us would never have to navigate.”

That changes how benefits are structured. Ongoing care becomes critical. Continuity matters as much as access. Drop-offs between sessions create risk, not just inconvenience.

The same applies to physical health. High utilisation of podiatry reflects the day-to-day demands of the job. As Scott put it, simply:

“Think about foot patrol.”

These are not edge cases, they are core needs for the cohort. Designing around a real group produces a very different outcome from designing for an abstract average member.

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Innovation for the future is not always about adding more

Innovation is often framed as expansion, more services, more features, more offerings. In a system already under strain, that approach has limits.

In this context, innovation can take the form of restraint. Choosing not to introduce additional product tiers. Maintaining focus when the market moves in another direction. Prioritising long-term sustainability over short-term gains.

Scott captured the tension well:

“Once you push that button, you cannot unpush it.”

These are leadership decisions that shape the direction of the organisation over time.

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What this signals for the future of healthcare

A few themes emerge from this conversation.

Healthcare is shifting away from episodic transactions towards ongoing care, which places more emphasis on continuity. Product design is moving towards cohort-specific relevance rather than broad segmentation. As system complexity increases, organisations that can simplify the member experience will have an advantage. And over time, value and trust will matter more than price alone.

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Final thought

The default assumption is that innovating for the future of healthcare requires adding more, more services, more features, more products.

This conversation points in another direction.

Clearer choices. Strong alignment to member needs. A strategy that holds over time.

As Scott said, “just because everybody else is doing it is not a good enough reason.”

The organisations that navigate the next phase of healthcare effectively are likely to be those that stay disciplined in what they build, and equally disciplined in what they choose not to.

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