More startups go after Medicare Advantage. This week in insurance tech.
Hi there,
We’re sending our newsletter out a bit later this week to account for the publication of our new quarterly briefing with Willis Towers Watson. Some highlights of the report include:
A look at the insurance landscape in China and case studies of various online insurance models
A deeper dive into the acquisition by Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Financial of MassMutual Asia
A list of all insurance tech deals as well as (re)insurer partnerships and strategic investments in Q3’17
A PDF copy of the report is available to newsletter readers here.
Oscar Health strategy teardown
We analyzed Oscar’s hiring, financials, enrollees, mobile apps, investment history, partnerships, and more to understand how Oscar’s strategy has evolved since its founding. See the Oscar strategy teardown here.
The timing coincides with other recent news announcements. Last week, Devoted Health, a startup co-founded by athenahealth founder Todd Park and former COO Ed Park, announced plans to launch Medicare Advantage plans in 2019 with $69M in backing from investors including Venrock. Devoted joins Bright Health and Clover Health as other venture-backed carriers looking to use technology as an edge in the Medicare Advantage market.
One interesting tidbit we came across in putting together the teardown was a job postingon the company’s page (which was removed after being spotted by media outlets) as a potential indicator that Oscar is also potentially looking to enter the Medicare Advantage market.
Medicare Advantage is one of the fastest-growing segments of insurance today, but also requires a high-touch model for a more at-risk population. While Oscar is building the tools to enable this kind of high-touch model (as evidenced by its concierge team and telemedicine strategy) as a possible hedge against the ACA, it’s still unclear exactly how or when Oscar could roll it out.
