Meet Oscar

Duaine

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Say Hi To Oscar: The New Kid That May Change Health Insurance:

For frequent conditions or issues, patients will be able to find treatments right on the website and have 24/7 access to a physician through their unique partnership with the telemedicine company, TeleDoc. Additionally, the creators claim there will be no need to discuss prescription refills in-person with an expensive physician when a user can have “one-click refills” through a health records feed that resembles a Twitter timeline.

Oscar will also offer services at many hospitals and retail locations such as New York CVS CareMark. The partnership that Oscar and CVS have is so strong that CVS is building sites for Oscar. These added locations will serve as one method of addressing the physician deserts that exist in the state. The company also contends that Value Options is a strategic partner with the goal of making mental and behavioral health care more accessible for the newly insured.

Not everything will be brand new though. Oscar will offer several types of plans like traditional insurance companies, but the approach is slightly different. As Schlosser explains, “packages will be bundled like AT&T, which consumers are now accustomed to.” The intention is to eliminate many of the arcane rules of the insurance industry, which often frustrate patients and erode the customer service experience.

Say Hi To Oscar: The New Kid That May Change Health Insurance - Forbes
 
Well, that's interesting. Wonder how it will work . . . I can't wait to see if they'll really be able to grant access to a doctor by phone in 20 minutes. I don't know how that will happen - maybe the doctors will be in some other country sitting in a call center . . . .
 
I met with oscar personally (and almost every other carrier in NY, trying to get info and see what kind of opportunity is available next year.)

They're competing only in Metro NYC and Long Island (but are weak in Suffolk, which is half of the island...) I got the vibe that they are "packaging" existing services rather than building it themselves. Roll a teladoc's company premium into theirs, outsource claims and CS, contract with an RX provider and use their network, same for providers, etc. Currently on-exchange individual only, with plans to expand product offerings soon. Nothing they offer is revolutionary or even new, but the packaging and presentation certainly is.

They have a great positioning strategy, but I'm not sure how many people will trust a new, unproven, entrant with limited plan options, a middle of the road price, and a less than robust network in a very limited area. They will be paying compensation, but again, it was pretty middle-of-the-road.

They have some great management, talent, and a ton of potential. I'm keeping an eye on them, don't get to see something done differently in this industry very often. I'd love to see them revolutionize healthcare, but I also think they have an uphill battle trying to unseat the big names for market share.
 
Nothing has been released publicly.

Initial rumors place it in the $10-$20 PMPM range, possibly based on tiers (I.e. a family is more than an Employee/Child, which is more than an individual).

I'm sure they'll be made public in three weeks when the exchanges open. It's not even worth the time trying to dig it up at this point IMO.
 
I know it is very hard to track down this information..one more commission question (not about Oscar). Have you heard what the Aetna commission will be for Individual, or will we have to wait until October for that too? Thanks
 
August 10, 2015

Oscar is ailing. I wonder what went wrong...priced too low?

Story: Oscar joins short list of Obamacare providers who posted losses last year - New York Business Journal

Oscar is doing so well, they compare them to the big dogs with decades of experience and not the dozens of companies that started at the same time.

Compared to the companies and co-ops that launched at the same time, Oscar is basically leading the pack. All new insurance companies lose money until their pool is large enough.

Just in NY, Oscar lost $27M on 40k members, HRINY lost $77.5M on 210k members, NSLIJ-CC lost $33M on 30k members, and the well established EmblemHealth lost $494M on 3.2M members. (Numbers direct from the cited article in Crain's Pulse)
 
Oscar is doing so well, they compare them to the big dogs with decades of experience and not the dozens of companies that started at the same time.

Compared to the companies and co-ops that launched at the same time, Oscar is basically leading the pack. All new insurance companies lose money until their pool is large enough.

Just in NY, Oscar lost $27M on 40k members, HRINY lost $77.5M on 210k members, NSLIJ-CC lost $33M on 30k members, and the well established EmblemHealth lost $494M on 3.2M members. (Numbers direct from the cited article in Crain's Pulse)

So I'll go ahead and break it down by loss per member Oscar $675 pm, HRINY $369 pm, nslij-cc $1100 pm, emblemhealth $154
 
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