Oscar Health will roll out its biggest expansion of health insurance yet, expanding to 12 new markets and six new states to sell coverage for individuals and families in 2020.
Calling the expansion its “biggest market expansion ever,” Oscar’s effort comes as health insurance companies across the country make more money and better manage the care of sick patients signing up for individual Obamacare coverage sold under the Affordable Care Act.
“This is the third consecutive year Oscar has significantly expanded its footprint, and this expansion brings Oscar’s total geographic footprint to 15 states and 26 markets,” Oscar said Thursday. The company said its “2020 insurance plan portfolio” is still being reviewed by regulators so executives didn’t release pricing or provider network partners on Thursday.
The announcement comes after Oscar announced another quarterly underwriting profit and signed an agreement with a new reinsurance partner, Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity reinsurance subsidiary. Such reinsurance partnerships typically mean a health plan like Oscar will have more capital to expand and invest in new technology.
Oscar currently sells individual Obamacare coverage in 14 markets in 9 states: New York, New Jersey, California, Tennessee, Ohio, Texas, Florida, Michigan and Arizona. Oscar now has 260,000 health plan enrollees across the country.
On Thursday, Oscar said it will expand in Florida to Miami, Tampa, Ocala and Daytona. In addition, Oscar said it will sell plans for the first time in Philadelphia; Denver; Richmond, Va.; Atlanta and the Kansas City market that includes both Kansas and Missouri. And in Texas, where Oscar has offered coverage for several years, company executives said they will “enter Houston and expand the plan options we offer in Dallas-Fort Worth.” The company is also expanding to “serve several counties in Western Michigan,” Oscar said.
“Oscar’s expansion proves that our commitment to making health care easy — by developing seamless technology and providing personalized support — is working,” Oscar CEO and Co-founder Mario Schlosser said. Schlosser founded Oscar with Joshua Kushner, brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared.
Oscar, which made its name as a startup focused on providing Obamacare coverage, earlier this month reported second-quarter “underwriting profit of $128 million.” Earlier this year, Oscar announced plans to enter the business of selling private Medicare Advantage plans for seniors.
Source Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2019/08/22/oscar-health-to-launch-biggest-obamacare-expansion-yet/
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