Oscar posts $57.6M loss in the first half of 2017

Though Oscar Health lost $57.6 million in the first half of 2017, that's a smaller loss than what it posted for the same period last year—an encouraging sign for a startup focused on attaining profitability.

By comparison, Oscar recorded an $83 million loss in the first half of 2016, according to Bloomberg. It lost a total of $204.9 million in 2016, but its CEO, Mario Schossler, said he believes 2017 will be the year that the insurer stages a turnaround financially.

Part of what is likely helping Oscar stem its losses is its decision to raise premiums and slim down its provider networks for some of its health plans—a pattern similar to other individual market carriers.

The company currently sells Affordable Care Act exchange plans in three states—New York, Texas and California—but is planning to expand that presence in 2018 to include New Jersey, Tennessee and Ohio.

Oscar’s expansion into the Buckeye State came as a result of a newly inked partnership with the Cleveland Clinic, through which they will offer co-branded individual market plans that promise a “seamless, guided healthcare experience” for customers.

And that is not the only way that Oscar is aiming to innovate. In June, the insurer announced that it would team up with Humana to offer small-business health plans in the Nashville, Tennessee, area. And earlier in the year, it launched a new machine-learning tool that it hopes will provide actionable clinical insights to physicians.

Meanwhile, Schossler has taken an upbeat stance about the future of the ACA exchanges—despite the high levels of uncertainty surrounding them.

“We're confident that when the dust settles, the market for health insurance will stabilize in time for 2018,” he said earlier this year.