Health insurance startup Alan covers meditation app subscription

French startup Alan wants to be a bit better than your good old health insurance. That's why the company is trying something new and now covers part of your Petit Bambou subscription.

Petit Bambou is a popular meditation app. It's a sort of Headspace, but with French content. You download an app, put your earphones, close your eyes and follow the instructions. Meditating ten or twenty minutes every day should help you feel better after a while.

The basic course is free and you need to pay a subscription to access more content. It costs a7 per month or a60 per year.

In France, health insurance companies usually cover your bills when the national healthcare system already pays for part of the bill.

For instance, if you get X-Rays for your arm, the national healthcare system will pay for part of the bill, and your health insurance will cover the rest. Usually, if something is not covered by the national healthcare system, your insurance company won't cover it either.

But Alan wants to differentiate its offering and add more stuff. The Petit Bambou offering is just a test for now. You can get a25 back if you subscribe for six months or a year. It only works once. But Alan is thinking about turning it into a recurring offer if people like the feature.