Upstarts join New Jersey health insurance market dominated by big three
OCTOBER 12, 2014, 11:00 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2014, 11:03 PM
BY LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
For decades, the world of health insurance in New Jersey has been dominated by huge companies with billions of dollars in assets and millions of customers. But later this year, residents who shop for their own insurance will have a choice of two new companies — one launched by young tech entrepreneurs and the other a non-profit cooperative.
The two upstarts are Oscar Insurance, the brainchild of Joshua Kushner, scion of the Kushner real estate fortune, and Health Republic Insurance of New Jersey, conceived by the Freelancers Union, an association of independent workers, and funded with loans from the federal government. If they succeed, they may just goad the traditional behemoths of insurance into a different way of doing business. And by increasing the competition for people who buy their own coverage, they may already be helping to hold down premiums.
“These innovative new entrants are shaking things up for the entire industry,” said Ceci Connolly, managing director of PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute, which recently released a report asking, “Who will be the [health care] industry’s next Amazon.com?”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/upstarts-join-new-jersey-health-insurance-market-dominated-by-big-three-1.1107824#sthash.VaD64Zjx.dpuf
