Oscar Health raises $1.4bn from stock market listing

Oscar Health, the health insurance company co-founded by Joshua Kushner, raised more than $1bn in an initial public offering that topped the company’s marketed price range, in a sign of investor confidence despite political uncertainty over the future of US healthcare.

The New York-based company priced its shares at $39 each on Tuesday, according to a statement, raising about $1.4bn. Oscar would have a market capitalisation of $7.9bn at that price, based on the total number of shares outstanding.

Oscar previously said it expected its listing share price to range from $32-$34 before increasing the range to $36-$38 on Tuesday. Coatue Management, Dragoneer Investment Group and Tiger Global Management — existing investors in the company — had indicated interest in purchasing up to $375m of shares in the offering.

The move demonstrated that investors are relatively unfazed by potential headwinds for the company. President Joe Biden has vowed to reform the US healthcare system and the Supreme Court is considering a decision on the fate of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, both of which could pose significant challenges to Oscar’s operating model.

Oscar was co-founded in 2012 by Mario Schlosser and Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Kushner’s venture firm, Thrive Capital, owned a stake that would be worth $1.3bn at the offering price and give it 75.9 per cent of the company’s voting power.

Oscar, which bills itself as the first health insurance company “built around a full stack technology platform”, has more than half a million paying members and offers its insurance plans in 18 US states.

But the company has struggled to become profitable. In 2020, it recorded widening losses of more than $400m on revenues of about $460m, a decline from almost $490m of revenues the previous year.

Oscar’s IPO came on the heels of several other public market debuts for “insurtech” groups in the past year, which fuelled an already strong run of stock market listings.

Clover Health, which uses data analytics to connect senior citizens to Medicare Advantage plans, merged with a special purpose acquisition company, or Spac, sponsored by former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya in a $3.75bn deal in October. Lemonade, which sells rental, homeowners and pet health insurance, went public last summer in what turned out to be one of the year’s most successful stock market debuts.

Oscar is highly sensitive to any changes to Obamacare, which lawmakers have wrestled over since it was written into law in 2010. Almost all of the company’s revenue comes from plans subject to Affordable Care Act regulations, according to its prospectus.

President Joe Biden’s healthcare programme would leave Obamacare largely intact, but would make some adjustments and add a public option for all Americans. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, is expected to announce a decision on yet another review of the Affordable Care Act in the coming months.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Allen & Co led the offering.