Insurance company Oscar cuts down its coverage in half, raises its rates

The insurer’s move was likely prompted by its considerable losses in New York last year

Life & Health

By Lyle Adriano

Insurance startup Oscar Health announced Tuesday that it is slashing its coverage in half—from 40,000 doctors to 20,000.

The company also has plans to reduce the size of its hospital network, from 77 to 31 facilities. Notably, the remaining 31 hospitals in the insurer’s network are almost exclusively in the Montefiore, Mount Sinai and the Long Island Health Network systems, reported NY Daily News.

Oscar Health lost a considerable $92.4 million in New York alone in 2015.

The insurer insists that the reduction, which goes into effect next year, as a means to provide seamless medical care to its customers.

“We have chosen partners who are committed to the same vision of better end-to-end health care — and who are willing to work closely with us to create it,” said Oscar CEO Mario Schlosser in a blog post.

Oscar hopes that its customers would accept the limited network in exchange for a variety of perks, such as flexible appointment scheduling through an app, alerts that tell customers’ personal doctors if the former has been to the emergency room, and better integration with hospitals and doctors’ offices.

Along with the reduction, Oscar also plans to increase its rates by an average of 16% in New York.


Related stories:
Startup insurer is cautionary tale of ACA difficulties, experts say
Morning Briefing: $2.7 billion health insurance start-up posts large losses
 

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