HIMSSCast: How Oscar Health is taking on legacy players to bring innovation to health insurance
Oscar CEO Mario Schlosser talks about what makes his pioneering insurtech startup stand out.
Oscar Health CEO Mario Schlosser
Photoillustration: Jonah Comstock, photo courtesy Oscar Health
These days, insurtech is its own burgeoning startup ecosystem. But in 2012, a startup elbowing into a space dominated by big long-term players like United, Humana, Cigna and the Blues was audacious and unheard of. Enter Oscar Health, the health insurance startup that's been pushing the envelope, exploring ways technology can improve the experience.
For today's HIMSSCast, Oscar CEO Mario Schlosser joins host Jonah Comstock and Healthcare Finance News Managing Editor Susan Morse to tell his story and answer some questions about the company's latest moves. Along the way, we discuss telehealth, value-based care, and more.
Be sure to check out Mario next week at the HIMSS State of Healthcare event on June 15th, where he'll represent the payer perspective on a panel of healthcare experts.
Like what you hear? Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Play!
Talking points:
- What makes Oscar's full-stack approach to technology different?
- Differentiators: Automation, virtual primary care, +Oscar.
- Major factors driving trends in healthcare.
- How COVID boosted the virtual primary care business.
- How Oscar overcame (and overcomes) healthcare's first-mover curse.
- 'Shifting the battlefield" toward value-based care.
- Driving Oscar towards profitability.
- Oscar's relationship with Cigna, and with other payers.
- Moving toward the frontier of risk-based payments.
- Why telemedicine and value-based care need each other.
- The Catch-22 of risk-sharing in healthcare.
- The emerging "orthogonal" healthcare system.
- The last mile in telehealth.
- Increasing provider interest in being in the health plan business.
More about this episode:
With $400M injection, tech-savvy health insurer Oscar eyes 1M member mark (from 2016)
Alphabet's $375 million in Oscar Health will expand insurer into Medicare Advantage business (from 2018)
Cigna, Oscar plan to expand affordable coverage for small businesses in Connecticut
Oscar launches no-cost virtual primary care in planned 2021 expansion
Tech-minded insurance company Oscar Health announces IPO
Health insuretech company Oscar scores $225M in new funding
Oscar lands $140M more as it prepares to scale in 2021
