Uzbekistan's mobile-exclusive bank, TBC Bank Uzbekistan, has raised $37 million in a new funding round to bolster its dominating digital presence in the Central Asian nation by developing new AI and tech products and attracting more tech-savvy customers. The fresh investment, made by the bank's London-based parent TBC Group, comes just five months after it raised $38.5 million in July. The parent company also led the last round, which included participation from its shareholders, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC). Uzbekistan has been an attractive market for digital businesses in recent years, with nearly 90% internet penetration and a young population ' 60% of its total population is under 30, per UNICEF. However, a significant share of the country's banking assets remains with its state banks. TBC Group sees this as a growth opportunity. The Uzbekistan group, which is 60% owned by London's TBC Group and 20% each by IFC and EBRD, recently expanded its financial lineup in the country with its in-house processing center to streamline payment operations and shorten time-to-market for new offerings, and entered strategic partnerships with Visa and Mastercard. Further, it introduced the Salom debit card and Osmon credit card and launched TBC Business, a digital banking service for small and medium Uzbek enterprises....

You have scheduled an appointment with a health care provider, but no matter how hard you try, no one seems to be able to reliably tell you how much that visit will cost you. Will you have to pay US$20, $1,000 ' or even more' Patients are increasingly on the hook for health care costs through deductibles, co-pays and other fees. As a result, patients are demanding credible cost information before appointments to choose where they seek care and control their budget. This is a question health economists like me try to answer. Although the fundamental reason is simply the unpredictable nature of health care, the fact that it translates to unpredictable out-of-pocket costs for patients is a policy choice. Health insurance plans in the U.S. such as Medicare and Medicare Advantage, as well as most individual and group plans, leave a percentage of the cost of care for patients to settle out of pocket. These include deductibles ' the amount patients have to pay for a service before their insurance kicks in ' or coinsurance, a percentage of the cost of care that patients must pay after they have met their deductible....

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, homeowners insurance increased an average of 11.3% nationwide in 2023, with some states, including Texas, Arizona and Utah, seeing nearly double that increase. Some analysts predict an average increase of about 6% in 2024. When home insurance averages $2,377 a year nationally, and $11,000 per year in Florida, this is a blow to many people. Despite these rising rates, Jacques de Vaucleroy, chairman of the board of reinsurance giant Swiss Re, believes U.S. insurance is still priced too low to fully cover the risks. It isn't just that premiums are changing. Insurers now often reduce coverage limits, cap payouts, increase deductibles and impose new conditions or even exclusions on some common perils, such as protection for wind, hail or water damage. Some require certain preventive measures or apply risk-based pricing ' charging more for homes in flood plains, wildfire-prone zones, or coastal areas at risk of hurricanes. Homeowners watching their prices rise faster than inflation might think something sinister is at play. Insurance companies are facing rapidly evolving risks, however, and trying to price their policies low enough to remain competitive but high enough to cover future payouts and remain solvent in a stormier climate. This is not an easy task. In 2021 and 2022, seven property insurers filed for bankruptcy in Florida alone. In 2023, insurers lost money on homeowners coverage in 18 states....

French tech startup Alan held a press conference this morning to announce three product updates. While it is better known as a health insurance company, the startup has always been trying to offer more than insurance coverage. It wants to build a super app for all things related to healthcare. The next logical step is leveraging artificial intelligence for medical conversations. Alan is adding a virtual assistant called Mo. It is currently directly tied to the feature that lets you chat with doctors. 'On the one hand, we increasingly want to be in charge of our own health. On the other, our healthcare system is mostly reactive and is therefore under constant strain,' Alan's AI lead Antoine Lizee said at the press conference. However, if you've used an AI chatbot over the past couple of years, you know that they tend to hallucinate. And when you work in the healthcare industry, you don't want to give dangerous advice or misdiagnose a patient. This issue has come up in the news lately with AI-based medical transcriptions ' eight out of every 10 audio transcriptions suffered from some level of hallucination according to a study from a University of Michigan researcher....