Oscar Health Tuesday reported a $65.7 million quarterly loss as the provider of individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare works its way to profitability under new management in part by raising rates.
Oscar, which shook up its management ranks and hired the former Aetna chief executive Mark Bertolini earlier this year, reported a net loss of $65.7 million in the third quarter compared to a net loss of $193.5 million in the year-ago period.
Founded in 2012, Oscar has yet to turn a profit but executives are forecasting that will change next year and remain bullish on the individual health insurance market to get them to a better financial position.
“Oscar reported strong third quarter results with significant year-over-year improvement across all core ratios,” Bertolini said in a statement accompanying Oscar’s earnings report, “We are pleased with our year-to-date outperformance and are raising our full year outlook for 2023 InsuranceCo Adjusted EBITDA and consolidated Adjusted EBITDA. We are well-positioned to deliver $155 million to $165 million of profit in our insurance business in 2023 and to achieve Total Company Adjusted EBITDA profitability in 2024.”
Oscar’s membership dropped below 1 million to 983,160 as of September 30 compared to a year ago thanks to almost 3,000 fewer Medicare Advantage customers and more than 100,000 fewer individual customers, ending the quarter with 912,761 enrollees in its core individual and small group business and just 1,840 Medicare Advantage enrollees.
Still, Oscar’s medical expense ratio was down and premium revenue was up as the health insurer raised rates. “Total Direct and Assumed Policy Premiums were $1.6 billion in the quarter, down 5% year-over-year (“YoY”), driven primarily by lower membership, partially offset by rate increases,” the company said.
Read the full article here