By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
(Reuters) - Shares of Oscar Health fell more than 7% in their stock market debut on Wednesday, fetching a valuation of just over $7 billion for the health insurance startup backed by Google parent Alphabet Inc.
The company’s shares opened at $36 on the New York Stock Exchange, below its initial public offering (IPO) price of $39 per share. Oscar Health raised $1.2 billion from its offering of 31 million shares on Tuesday, after increasing the price range.
Oscar Health is yet to bring in a profit but saw its customers grow 75% in 2020 as more people sought remote healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic, supercharging the telemedicine market and prompting companies to expand their scale.
IIRC, you posted on a United affiliate in Georgia that offered what sounded to me like an Oscar model exchange plan in the Atlanta area, and left after either one or two years. In my view, if United sees no short to medium turn path to profitability from a business model, Oscar is definitely going to be challenged, because in addition to their technical ability to accurately forecast risk adjustment into their premium setting, they don’t have the scale to command lower per unit prices on administrative and medical services. Does Oscar really think that other insurers aren’t doing many of the same things they are already? Yeah, I don’t understand it.
Oscar Health Inc., the digital health insurance company well known to New Yorkers thanks to a subway advertising campaign, is going public in a deal that could value the company at up to $8 billion.
Read more about Alphabet-backed Oscar Health eyes as much as $6.7 bn IPO valuation on Business Standard. The offering is expected to be priced between $32 and $34 per share, valuing the company at $6.7 billion at the upper end of the pricing range