Somewhere along the way, as costs crept higher and a complex of consultants tested what the system could bear, health care in America lost sight of the individual.
For Josh and me, it took as little as a few maddeningly inscrutable insurance notices to seed the idea of Oscar. But we knew that under this broken system, many Americans have endured far worse. That’s why we started Oscar – to try and take an outlandishly expensive, outrageously complicated system and restore its focus on the needs of the member. That meant putting ourselves right in the middle of it all, as an insurer, and redefining what a health insurance company was.
Five years in, we've built Oscar to be an insurer that engages members in their health and proactively guides them through the system. Instead of passing higher costs on to individuals and employers, we're focused on empowering our members to access and choose better, more affordable care. We're rejecting the usual route of broad network contracts of varied quality, and choosing to partner with a select few of the best hospitals and doctors to give members a curated experience. It’s only through this kind of deep integration with our provider partners that we can ensure members get the care they need in the clinical setting they need.
We’re encouraged that this approach is continuing to bear fruit. Starting this fall, Oscar is working with the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic (opens in new tab) to offer a unique healthcare experience that puts your insurance company on the same team as you and your doctor. Our new, co-branded Cleveland Clinic | Oscar health plans, expected to be offered to consumers in northeast Ohio this fall, will pair Oscar with a health system run by 3,500 of the best doctors in the country.
We're excited to learn from Cleveland Clinic. The Clinic has set the global standard for clinical excellence and innovation in healthcare, all while orienting every detail of the organization in service of the patient. Celebrated across the world today for its innovation, research, and quality of care, the Clinic was started as a group practice with four WWI medics who believed doctors should collaborate to help patients. Nearly 100 years later, even as it expanded to three different continents, the Clinic is still distinguished by a simple, guiding principle: .