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Health insurance startup Oscar Health’s expansion into new markets paid off, enrolling more than 250,000 individual products under the Affordable Care Act for next year.
Oscar’s growth is 150% ahead of this year’s total and comes despite Trump administration cuts to marketing and the open enrollment period. Open enrollment ended Dec. 15, more than a month ahead of last year’s end to the sign-up period.
“Our growth next year is fueled by doubling our market presence to six states, strong organic growth of more than 60% in existing markets, the introduction of a new business line in small group plans, and two major strategic joint ventures with Humana Inc. and Cleveland Clinic,” Oscar said in a statement Thursday.
Earlier this year, Oscar announced plans to offer co-branded individual insurance in Ohio with the Cleveland Clinic in five northeastern counties in that state. Oscar's other new markets for 2018 include Austin, Texas, where it has individual products already in San Antonio. Oscar Health is also returning to New Jersey to sell individual health plans on public exchanges under the ACA.
Oscar was co-founded by Mario Schlosser and Josh Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared. While the two are ramping up marketing and expansion, losses are narrowing and the company reported an underwriting profit in its third quarter.
“Enrollments surged at the start and never stopped. Oscar will enroll over 250,000 members, well over double our total from last year,” Oscar CEO Schlosser said Thursday. “This was a year in which Americans tuned out headlines and proved that a stable, core group of consumers make up most of the market. As we pursue our mission to deliver quality, affordable care to everyone, Oscar is charting an exciting growth trajectory in a resilient individual market.”
Oscar is expanding at a time larger players like Aetna, Anthem, Humana and UnitedHealth Group scale back their Obamacare business. The larger players are scaling back or leaving the individual business after being unable to successfully manage the costs of sick patients signing up for coverage.
