Alphabet to Help Oscar Move Into Medicare Advantage Market
The startup hopes to offer its first Medicare Advantage plans in 2020.
Alphabet Inc. is putting $375 million into major medical insurance startup Oscar Health, the latest health care investment from Google’s parent company.
Oscar plans to use the funds to help fuel its entrance into the Medicare Advantage plan market in 2020, Chief Executive Officer Mario Schlosser said in a statement. Salar Kamangar, the former CEO of YouTube, will join Oscar’s board, the company said.x
(Related: Startups Lead a New Rush Into ACA’s Now-Profitable Markets)
Before the latest investment, Oscar had raised almost $900 million, garnering a $3.2 billion valuation. Other Alphabet units including life-sciences arm Verily had previously invested in Oscar, whose co-founders include Schlosser and Josh Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, a top adviser to President Donald Trump.
The magazine Wired reported on the investment earlier on Tuesday. In the Wired article, Schlosser said the investment is financial and that the companies don’t have any immediate plans to collaborate more closely.
Oscar has been selling individual major medical plans through the Affordable Care Act public exchange system since 2013. The New York-based company now has about 240,000 members this year. It has been building group health sales, and it has announced plans to expand into several new markets in 2019.
— Read Oscar Health Said to Be Valued at $2.7 Billion in Fidelity-Led Round, on ThinkAdvisor.
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