Oscar owes its existence to the Affordable Care Act's disruption of the health care market. A new feature from Backchannel shows how the fledgling startup is facing the law's imminent repeal.
The company's leaders say they'll survive because they have:
- Flexibility to evolve faster in a changing market than more established competitors
- Moved into the small business market, covering firms that offer insurance options to employees
- Better user experiences (think: going to an Apple Store for your doctor's appointment)
Cofounder Josh Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, sums it up:
"It's like we're this beautiful spaceship that was able to be built because there was some new space program — but we launched in an unstable environment. But we can quickly redirect this beautiful spaceship to very stable environments."