A Kushner Bets on Obamacare in the Era of Trump

In 2012, amid the idealistic aftermath of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Josh Kushner started a health-care company. Kushner—younger brother of Jared and brother-in-law to Ivanka Trump—launched Oscar Insurance Corp. with two Harvard Business School classmates, Kevin Nazemi and Mario Schlosser. The idea was to make the health-care system easier to navigate for patients by, for instance, improving customer service and designing bills that were easier to understand. “Our motivation was like, man, these bills suck,” says Schlosser, the chief executive officer.

Oscar opened its doors in New York during the first Obamacare enrollment period in 2013. An ad campaign aimed at millennials talked up a slick iPhone app that allows patients to set up phone consultations with physicians. The company later added a “concierge” service that lets patients text with nurses to find specialists and set up appointments. Oscar attracted 16,000 members in the New York City area during its first year, many of them the type of younger, healthy customers insurers covet. In part because of its promise to bring Silicon Valley-style innovation to health care, Oscar has raised $730 million from investors including Alphabet Inc., Founders Fund—the venture capital firm run by Peter Thiel—and Fidelity Investments LLC.