As a way to mitigate the risk of losing the large portion of business if the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were to be repealed, Oscar should more actively pursue the development and introduction of products for small businesses. As the first step, the new product, Oscar for Business, was introduced in Southern California in April of 2018 that offers a strong provider network in partnerships with major healthcare systems such as UCLA Health, Providence Health, and St. Joseph Hoag (Oscar Health Insurance, 2018). Furthermore, another new product called Circle Plus will be introduced in New York for small businesses in 2019 that allows consumers to access more providers within Northwell Health, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Westmed Medical Group, in addition to the existing provider network such as Montefiore Health System, Mount Sinai Health System, and the Long Island Health Network (LaMantia, 2018).
In order to further strengthen the company and establish stability at the time of potential repealing of ACA, Business Project Teams should conduct analysis on identifying the region where reasonably priced plans with strong provider network do not exist and began negotiating the partnerships with the strong healthcare systems in the identified region. Once the partnerships are secured, the marketing strategy should be developed to effectively reach owners of small businesses in the area, which may include in-person meetings with local insurance brokers.
Based on the fact that one of the company co-founders, Joshua Kushner, is the brother of the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, Oscar can be questioned as to whether the company is contributing to the failing healthcare initiatives that encourage the high-premium and high-deductible health plans (Whalen, 2018). In order to minimize the spreading of such misconception any further, it is extremely important for Oscar to introduce products that are more affordable than the products sold by other insurers. While marketing campaign is crucial to the success of the company, emphasizing the company’s passion to improve consumer experience in healthcare is not enough to convince consumers that Oscar is committed to challenging the conventional American healthcare. Unless the company manages to reflect its mission in pricing, consumers may continue to associate Oscar with the failing state of the current healthcare in this country.
Fortunately, according to the state Department of Financial Services (as cited in LaMantia, 2018), Oscar’s small-business plans are estimated to be among the cheapest all around in 2019.
In order to develop and introduce affordable products for small businesses, cultivation of positive relationships with business owners will be crucial. While Oscar is a technology-focused company, the reinforcement of human resources may become beneficial in negotiating details of plans and costs, especially with small local business owners. Based on the study conducted by Dr. Albert Mehrabian of UCLA (as cited in Wachtel, 2019), communication is 93 percent non-verbal. As negotiators must skillfully listen by providing physical feedback and restating what was communicated by the speaker to ensure accurate understanding, in-person meetings with potential partners will likely be more productive (Wachtel, 2019).
Once the negotiation team with skillful negotiators is formed, regions and areas identified as the target for their lack of affordable business health insurance should be further researched to pinpoint small businesses that may appreciate a company that is technology-focused and consumer-centric. By focusing more on small businesses, Oscar can minimize the risk of having too many sick individuals on their health plans that can drive the expenses too high to keep the premiums and deductibles low. Furthermore, cultivation of new territory in small businesses will maximize the survival of the company if the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were to be repealed completely, including the resolving of the federal and state-operated marketplaces where the majority of Oscar consumers currently originate.
As mentioned earlier, there is a government initiative called Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) for employers of less than 50 employees that allows the business owners to receive Small Business Health Care Tax Credit (The United States Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, n.d.). However, the criteria for business owners to receive such tax credit is strict. While it is highly crucial to ensure that only the businesses that truly need assistance will meet the criteria to avoid the program being abused, Oscar should work with lobbyists to expand the criteria so that more people can receive the quality healthcare they honestly work for. At the same time, businesses that receive the tax credit are more likely to contribute the larger amount into the health insurance plan their employees receive, which will enable Oscar to reduce premiums and deductibles.
While it will likely benefit the business of Oscar, it is also the social responsibility as a health insurance company to make healthcare more affordable and accessible to all. When about 41 percent of Americans cannot pay $400 emergency medical expense unless they borrow money from someone or sell their belongings, the system is clearly broken (Tozzi & Tracer, 2018). Oscar must become part of the solution.
LaMantia, J. (2018, November 28). Oscar Health expands network for small biz. Modern
Healthcare. Retrieved from https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20181128/NEWS/181129933/oscar-health-expands-network-for-small-biz
Oscar Health Insurance. (2018, April 7). Oscar health expands Oscar for Business to Los
Angeles. Retrieved from https://www.hioscar.com/press/oscar-health-expands-oscar-for-business-to-los-angeles
Tozzi, J. & Tracer, Z. (2018, June 26). Sky-high deductibles broke the U.S. health insurance
system; Employers are questioning a system they say costs patients too much. Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-06-26/sky-high-deductibles-broke-the-u-s-health-insurance-system
The United States Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Exploring coverage options
for small businesses. HealthCare.gov. Retrieved from https://www.healthcare.gov/small-businesses/learn-more/explore-coverage/
Wachtel, D. A. (2019, June 11). Top 5 negotiation skills proven in business. Negotiation Experts.
Whalen, A. (2018, December 6). Jared Kushner’s brother selling Obamacare insurance that costs
you $24,000 before it starts working. Newsweek. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/high-deductible-health-insurance-plan-jared-kushner-affordable-care-act-1248297
Peer # 1
Recommendations
Business Project Teams
As a way to mitigate the risk of losing the large portion of business if the Affordable Care Act
(ACA) were to be repealed, Oscar should more actively pursue the development and introduction of
products for small businesses. As the first step,
the new product, Oscar for Business, was introduced in
Southern California in April of 2018 that offers a strong provider network in partnerships with major
healthcare systems such as UCLA Health, Providence Health, and St. Joseph Hoag (Oscar Health
Insura
nce, 2018). Furthermore, another new product called Circle Plus will be introduced in New York
for small businesses in 2019 that allows consumers to access more providers within Northwell Health,
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Westmed Medical
Group, in addition to the existing
provider network such as Montefiore Health System, Mount Sinai Health System, and the Long Island
Health Network (LaMantia, 2018).
In order to further strengthen the company and establish stability at the tim
e of potential
repealing of ACA, Business Project Teams should conduct analysis on identifying the region where
reasonably priced plans with strong provider network do not exist and began negotiating the
partnerships with the strong healthcare systems in t
he identified region. Once the partnerships are
secured, the marketing strategy should be developed to effectively reach owners of small businesses in
the area, which may include in
-
person meetings with local insurance brokers.
Communication
Based on the fact that one of the company co
-
founders, Joshua Kushner, is the brother of the
son
-
in
-
law of President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, Oscar can be questioned as to whether the
company is contributing to the failing healthcare initiatives that e
ncourage the high
-
premium and high
-
deductible health plans (Whalen, 2018). In order to minimize the spreading of such misconception any
further, it is extremely important for Oscar to introduce products that are more affordable than the
products sold by ot
her insurers. While marketing campaign is crucial to the success of the company,
emphasizing the company’s passion to improve consumer experience in healthcare is not enough to
convince consumers that Oscar is committed to challenging the conventional Amer
ican healthcare.
Unless the company manages to reflect its mission in pricing, consumers may continue to associate
Oscar with the failing state of the current healthcare in this country.
Fortunately, according to the state Department of Financial Services
(as cited in LaMantia, 2018), Oscar’s
small
-
business plans are estimated to be among the cheapest all around in 2019.
Solution
In order to develop and introduce affordable products for small businesses, cultivation of positive
relationships
with business owners will be crucial. While Oscar is a technology
-
focused company, the
reinforcement of human resources may become beneficial in negotiating details of plans and costs,
especially with small local business owners. Based on the study conduct
ed by Dr. Albert Mehrabian of
UCLA (as cited in Wachtel, 2019), communication is 93 percent non
-
verbal. As negotiators must skillfully
listen by providing physical feedback and restating what was communicated by the speaker to ensure
Peer # 1
Recommendations
Business Project Teams
As a way to mitigate the risk of losing the large portion of business if the Affordable Care Act
(ACA) were to be repealed, Oscar should more actively pursue the development and introduction of
products for small businesses. As the first step, the new product, Oscar for Business, was introduced in
Southern California in April of 2018 that offers a strong provider network in partnerships with major
healthcare systems such as UCLA Health, Providence Health, and St. Joseph Hoag (Oscar Health
Insurance, 2018). Furthermore, another new product called Circle Plus will be introduced in New York
for small businesses in 2019 that allows consumers to access more providers within Northwell Health,
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Westmed Medical Group, in addition to the existing
provider network such as Montefiore Health System, Mount Sinai Health System, and the Long Island
Health Network (LaMantia, 2018).
In order to further strengthen the company and establish stability at the time of potential
repealing of ACA, Business Project Teams should conduct analysis on identifying the region where
reasonably priced plans with strong provider network do not exist and began negotiating the
partnerships with the strong healthcare systems in the identified region. Once the partnerships are
secured, the marketing strategy should be developed to effectively reach owners of small businesses in
the area, which may include in-person meetings with local insurance brokers.
Communication
Based on the fact that one of the company co-founders, Joshua Kushner, is the brother of the
son-in-law of President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, Oscar can be questioned as to whether the
company is contributing to the failing healthcare initiatives that encourage the high-premium and high-
deductible health plans (Whalen, 2018). In order to minimize the spreading of such misconception any
further, it is extremely important for Oscar to introduce products that are more affordable than the
products sold by other insurers. While marketing campaign is crucial to the success of the company,
emphasizing the company’s passion to improve consumer experience in healthcare is not enough to
convince consumers that Oscar is committed to challenging the conventional American healthcare.
Unless the company manages to reflect its mission in pricing, consumers may continue to associate
Oscar with the failing state of the current healthcare in this country.
Fortunately, according to the state Department of Financial Services (as cited in LaMantia, 2018), Oscar’s
small-business plans are estimated to be among the cheapest all around in 2019.
Solution
In order to develop and introduce affordable products for small businesses, cultivation of positive
relationships with business owners will be crucial. While Oscar is a technology-focused company, the
reinforcement of human resources may become beneficial in negotiating details of plans and costs,
especially with small local business owners. Based on the study conducted by Dr. Albert Mehrabian of
UCLA (as cited in Wachtel, 2019), communication is 93 percent non-verbal. As negotiators must skillfully
listen by providing physical feedback and restating what was communicated by the speaker to ensure
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