Google parent invests $375M in ObamaCare startup Oscar

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is investing $375 million in Oscar Health, a startup health insurance company seeking to redefine the industry by using technology and data.

The infusion of funding from the parent of a major technology giant is a vote of confidence in Oscar Health, which has been closely watched for how well it will be able to shake up the health insurance industry.

“It’s fantastic for us because it will really allow us to focus fully on the core model we’ve been building for the past 6 years, which is: use technology, use data, use design, use a human approach to build a very different health care experience,” Oscar Health CEO Mario Schlosser told Wired. “And that’s what this allows us to do.”

{mosads}Oscar offers health coverage through ObamaCare in six states and seeks to make the system smarter through innovations like having a “concierge” team, including a nurse, that helps enrollees with tasks like finding the right doctor.

Adding a note of political intrigue, the co-founder of Oscar Health is Josh Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

That relationship has drawn attention in the past because of Oscar Health’s participation in ObamaCare.

Schlosser told Wired that Josh Kushner’s connection to Trump “does not affect what we do.”

“Whatever happened in the press, whatever happens on the regulatory side, I have personally always thought, and I think the company shares in this, that if we have something that leads to lower costs and happier members in some shape or form we’ll be able to turn this into a successful company,” he added.