Jan 5, 2017

The "Uber of health insurance" preps for Obamacare repeal

Shane Savitsky

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."

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Courtenay Brown

Stocks fall 4% as sell-off worsens

A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Photo: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

Stocks fell more than 4% on Thursday, extending the market’s worst week since the financial crisis in 2008 following a spike in coronavirus cases around the world.

The big picture: All three indices are in correction, down over 10% from recent record-highs, amid a global market rout. It's the S&P 500's quickest decline into correction territory in the index's history, per Deutsche Bank.

Keep ReadingArrowUpdated 12 mins ago - Economy & Business
Axios

Coronavirus updates: California monitors 8,400 potential cases

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

33 people in California have tested positive for the coronavirus, and health officials are monitoring 8,400 people who have recently returned from "points of concern," Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.

The big picture: COVID-19 has killed more than 2,800 people and infected over 82,000 others in some 50 countries and territories. The novel coronavirus is now affecting every continent but Antarctica, and the WHO said Wednesday the number of new cases reported outside China has exceeded those inside the country for the first time.

Go deeperArrowUpdated 1 hour ago - Health
Orion Rummler

Watchdog opens probe into VA secretary over handling of sexual assault claim

VA Secretary Robert Wilkie on Fox Business Network’s "The Evening Edit" on Jan. 7. Photo: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

The Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General Michael Missal said Thursday he had opened an investigation into VA Secretary Robert Wilkie after lawmakers demanded an inquiry into his handling of a sexual misconduct report, the Washington Post reports.

Context: Wilkie allegedly "worked to discredit" the credibility of Democratic aide and veteran Andrea Goldstein after she reported last fall "that a man groped and propositioned her in the main lobby of the agency's D.C. Medical Center," a senior VA official told the Post.

Go deeperArrow2 hours ago - Politics & Policy