Oscar Health to raise premiums, cut networks by more than 50%

Dubbed the "hipster" health insurer, Oscar Health — a New York City-based startup — is making a monumental change to its plan offerings for 2017, according to Vox.

Created in 2014, Oscar Health has been gaining traction in its attempt to disrupt the nation's traditional health insurers. But last year, it lost $92.4 million in its 61,000-member New York network.

Its solution to the massive losses? Raise premiums by at least 13 percent and significantly narrow its networks. Oscar Health had 40,000 in-network physicians and 77 in-network facilities in 2016; next year, its network will shrink to 20,000 physicians and 31 hospitals, according to Vox. Most of these facilities are part of New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System, Bronx, N.Y.-based Montefiore Health System or Melville, N.Y.-based Long Island Health Network.

None of these changes will go into effect until Jan. 1, 2017, according to Oscar Health's blog.

Oscar Health CEO Mario Schlosser has a positive outlook regarding the change. "The features and benefits we can build will more than make up for the fact that there is a doctor disappearing from that directory," he said, according to Vox. "But frankly, we're going to have to demonstrate that."

Read more about the changes on Oscar Health's blog.

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