Oscar's new chief financial officer, Sid Sankaran, said expanding into Medicare Advantage will be a focus of Oscar's energy over 2020 and 2021.
In 2018, Oscar offered health-insurance plans on the Obamacare marketplaces in New York, New Jersey, California, Ohio, Texas, and Tennessee. It also sells plans for small employers. For this year, the companyThe health insurer's 2018 financials show its operations are improving. The company said it has managed to get medical costs under control, spending about 80.5% of the premium revenue it takes in from its members on medical care, down from about 95% the year before.
Oscar's financial results are affected by a reinsurance deal that the company entered into with the massive French insurer Axa. A portion of the premiums that Oscar collects are sent to Axa, and in return Axa agrees to share a portion of Oscar's profits or losses. In February, Oscar hired Sankaran, a former executive at the insurer American International Group, as its chief financial officer. Sankaran most recently served as the global insurance giant's CFO and was chief risk officer as the company recovered from the financial crisis, when it was bailed out by the US government.