The story
2012–2015
According to the company, it was founded in 2012 by Mario Schlosser, Joshua Kushner, and Kevin Nazemi, who were classmates at Harvard Business School. Mother Jones reported in March 2020 that Kushner and his brother, Jared, owned the firm's parent company, Thrive Partners III, at the time of its incorporation in 2013. Oscar began selling insurance for 2013, the same year that the Affordable Care Act exchanges and individual mandate went into effect for the 2014 plan year. In its first year, Oscar secured 16,000 members. In 2015, Oscar expanded coverage to New Jersey and grew to about 40,000 members.
2016
Oscar had 145,000 members in New York, New Jersey, California, and Texas in 2016. The firm expanded its operations to Tempe, Arizona, in August that year, where it decided to locate its Concierge teams, their name for their member services model. On August 23, Oscar announced it would be exiting the New Jersey Marketplace at the end of 2016, citing uncertainties in the market that would make it challenging "to operate effectively and continue to deliver access to quality healthcare." Oscar also announced that it would halve the size of its provider network in New York amidst rising premiums in order to "gain more control over pricing and patient experience".
In November 2016, the firm opened the Oscar Center in partnership with Mount Sinai Health System. Located in Brooklyn Heights, next to the Jay Street–MetroTech station, the Oscar Center had a primary care practice only available to Oscar policyholders, with a doctor, nurse practitioner, and a behavioral health specialist. It also hosted free classes for members, such as yoga classes or classes for expectant mothers. On March 13, 2020, Oscar closed the Oscar Center "until further notice."
2017
On April 25, 2017, Oscar announced its entrance into the small group insurance market, offering health plans in New York. On June 15, 2017, Oscar announced its partnership with Cleveland Clinic to offer individual health insurance plans to consumers in five counties in Northeastern Ohio.
On June 21, 2017, Oscar announced its intention to expand to additional markets in 2018 in areas of Tennessee, Ohio, Texas, New Jersey and California. On July 12, 2017, Oscar announced that it would be selling small group insurance in the Nashville metro area to companies with up to 50 employees through a strategic partnership with Humana.
A report by the New York Times in October 2017 speculated that Oscar Health had ties to Saudi Arabia. That month, Jared and Joshua Kushner visited Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman within days of each other. Despite Jared severing ties with Thrive Partners when he began working for the Trump administration, these coordinated visits raised questions about his ability to be impartial on Saudi affairs. Five months after Kushner's visit to Saudi Arabia in October 2017, Oscar Health announced a $165 million round of financing.
While a spokesman for Kushner said that Oscar Health's management didn't know of direct investment by the Saudis, he declined to disclose if Saudis had invested in Thrive funds. He only confirmed that Thrive hadn't received money from any Saudi parties since the presidential election. In May 2018, Jared Kushner disclosed $8.2 million in capital gains from Thrive funds.
2020–present
In January 2020, Oscar announced a partnership with Cigna to bring health insurance plans to small businesses. The partnership, Cigna + Oscar, will "launch in select markets in 2020 and plan to expand the partnership over time."
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As of June 2020, Oscar had sold individual health insurance plans, both directly and through health insurance marketplaces, in New York, Texas and California. Oscar sells Medicare Advantage plans in New York City and Houston, Texas. Mario Schlosser is the company's CEO, after serving as Co-CEO with Nazemi until the latter's departure in early 2015. While Kushner does not hold a formal role in Oscar's daily operations, he remains a major shareholder and Schlosser confirmed (as of 2017) that he has "significant input in multiple aspects of the company like strategy, hiring, and marketing."
Oscar Health raised $1.2 billion on March 3, 2021, after an IPO.
Oscar Health reported 1.1 million members across its platform, which equates to 1 in 13 ACA exchange-based enrollees. The company announced it would exit the Arkansas and Colorado markets for plan year 2023.
Mario Schlosser steps down as CEO on April 3, 2023, transitioning to President of Technology. Mark Bertolini takes over as CEO.
In 2025, Oscar Health was ranked 437th by revenue on the Fortune 500 list and 42nd within the healthcare sector in the same rankings.
From Wikipedia’s article on Oscar Health, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7