Oscar Health

History

The company was founded in 2012 by Mario Schlosser, Kevin Nazemi, and Josh Kushner, who were classmates at Harvard Business School. Oscar was named after Kushner's great-grandfather. Kushner was inspired to start the company after receiving an explanation of benefits from his health insurer that he was unable to understand.

Oscar began insuring members in New York in 2014 and had around 16,000 members. In 2015, it expanded coverage to New Jersey and grew to about 40,000 members.

Current operations

Oscar sells individual health insurance plans, both directly and through health insurance marketplaces. For 2016, it will serve select areas in New York, New Jersey, California, and Texas.

On August 23, 2016, Oscar emailed their customers living in New Jersey to inform them that they would be exiting the New Jersey Marketplace at the end of 2016. In 2015, the company lost $92.4 million, and was reported to be struggling and reducing its footprint.

Employees

In 2016 Bloomberg News reported technology chief Fredrik Nylander's departure in June was to be filled by Alan Warren from Google. Bloomberg News further reported that Warren was chosen to focus on improving the underlying computer systems at Oscar Health.

Marketing and Brand

Oscar Health has run marketing campaigns on the New York subway. Bloomberg News reported the campaigns feature advertisements that feature cartoons suggesting "an easier way of getting medical care." AdWeek described Oscar Health's print ads as featuring "whimsical, animated characters".

In 2015 AdWeek reported that Oscar Health was airing it's first television campaign targeted at the demographic of "new parents who are too frazzled to shop for health insurance." The ad launched on network stations in New Jersey and New York areas, cable, movie theaters located in New Jersey and in advertising within the Spotify app.

Funding

The company has raised capital through a series of funding rounds including from Thrive Capital, General Catalyst Partners and Khosla Ventures.

During the May 2014 Series A round Peter Thiel's Founders Fund led the series investing $30 million. By the close of Series A Forbes reported the valuation of the company at $800 million.

During the 2015 Series B round Oscar Health raised $145 million, bringing the total capital raised to $300 M and valuing the company at $1.5 billion. Series B investors included Formation 8, Horizons Ventures, Wellington Management Company and Goldman Sachs.

In September 2015, Oscar announced a funding round with Google Ventures and Google Capital, valuing the company at $1.75 billion.

Revenue

In 2014 New York Magazine reported that as of May 2014 Oscar Health had 16,000 subscribers enrolled in it's insurance program producing an estimated $72 million.

In 2015 Forbes reported that Oscar Health had 40,000 subscribes with an average subscriber paying annual fees of $4,500 resulting in Oscar Health's revenue estimates at $180M.

Vox reported that in 2015 Oscar Health lost $92.4 million in New York as the firm's analytical models failed to accurately forecast "the people who signed up for coverage were sicker than the company had expected."

By 2016 Oscar Health had 135,000 subscribers with roughly half residing in New York state.

Headquarters and other major offices

Headquarters are located in New York City.