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Oscar Insurance Corporation
Founded in New York in 2012 by Mario Schlosser, Kevin Nazemi, and Josh Kushner, Oscar Health was built as a direct response to the complexity and opacity...
Oscar Insurance Corporation
Founded in New York in 2012 by Mario Schlosser, Kevin Nazemi, and Josh Kushner, Oscar Health was built as a direct response to the complexity and opacity of the U.S. health insurance system. The firm entered the market on the Affordable Care Act exchanges, positioning itself as a digitally native alternative to legacy carriers. Its initial growth was fueled by venture capital from Thrive Capital — Kushner's firm — as well as from Alphabet, General Catalyst, and Founders Fund, raising over $1.6 billion in private funding before its public debut (per the firm's S-1 filing, 2021). Oscar deploys a proprietary, member-facing technology platform that includes telemedicine, a care-search tool, and an integrated claims and provider-data system. The firm underwrites health insurance policies across three main lines: individual and family plans, small-group plans, and Medicare Advantage plans. Oscar's individual plans are built on its own provider networks, which it constructs through direct contracting with health systems like Cleveland Clinic (per the firm's investor materials, 2016) and Montefiore Health System in New York. The company also operates a technology-platform-as-a-service business, +Oscar, licensing its full-stack software to other insurers and health systems — Cigna + Oscar being its most prominent partnership (launched 2020). Geographic coverage spans 20 U.S. states, with concentrated membership in Florida, Texas, New York, and California. Oscar reached roughly 1.1 million members by early 2024, with total revenue of $5.9 billion in fiscal year 2023, driven by growth in individual-market enrollment and disciplined pricing actions (per the firm's Q4 2023 earnings release). The firm maintains offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Tempe; its corporate parent is a publicly traded company. September 2024: Oscar named Scott Blackley as Chief Financial Officer, replacing outgoing CFO Sid Sankaran (per the firm, September 2024). The company does not operate its own philanthropic foundation but has historically contributed subsidized individual-market plans through the ACA risk-adjustment system. Oscar's structural differentiator is its full-stack insurance operating system, which it built internally rather than integrating third-party administrative software — a deliberate departure from the legacy insurer model of bolting digital features onto inherited mainframe claims platforms. This architecture lets Oscar iterate on plan design and pricing cycles faster than incumbents, and it is the foundation for the +Oscar platform business that effectively white-labels its technology for competing insurers.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2012
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Additional offices
Los Angeles, CA · Tempe, AZ
Principals
Mario Schlosser
Co-Founder & CEO
Josh Kushner
Co-Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs Oscar Health and what is its relationship to Thrive Capital?
Oscar was co-founded by Mario Schlosser, who serves as CEO and is the primary operating executive, alongside Josh Kushner, who is the founder and CEO of Thrive Capital. Thrive Capital was an early and repeated lead investor in Oscar's private funding rounds, and Kushner sits on Oscar's board of directors. The two firms are distinct legal entities, though the Thrive connection gives Oscar access to a deep technology-investor network.
How does Oscar's provider network model differ from a traditional health insurer?
Oscar builds narrow, curated provider networks through direct contracting with specific health systems rather than renting broad third-party networks. In its early years, this meant exclusive relationships with systems like Montefiore in New York and Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. The company supplements this with its own telemedicine service, Oscar Virtual Care, and a concierge-style member-support team it calls a Care Squad.
What is Oscar's +Oscar platform business?
+Oscar is a technology-platform-as-a-service offering where Oscar licenses its full-stack insurance operating system to other payers and health systems. The most visible partnership is Cigna + Oscar, launched in 2020, which combines Cigna's provider networks with Oscar's member-facing technology and care navigation tools for small-group plans. Oscar earns per-member-per-month fees from these arrangements, creating a capital-light revenue stream distinct from its fully insured book.
What is Oscar Health's current financial profile and path to profitability?
Oscar reported full-year 2023 revenue of $5.9 billion and reached its first quarter of net income profitability in Q4 2023 (per the firm's earnings release, February 2024). The company has historically operated at a combined ratio above 100% as it scaled, but management guided to sustained profitability in 2024 driven by pricing adjustments and reduced administrative costs. The firm's medical loss ratio has improved through narrowed-network contracting and better risk-selection algorithms.
Does Oscar Health manage any investment portfolios or external capital, or is it strictly an operating company?
Oscar is a pure operating company and regulated insurance carrier — it does not manage third-party capital or operate as a family office, venture arm, or asset manager. The firm's balance sheet investment portfolio consists of the cash and fixed-income reserves it is required to hold as a regulated insurer, and it does not deploy strategic capital into private companies beyond the operational scope of its insurance business.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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