It’s been eleven years since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as ObamaCare, and it seems America is no closer to solving the problem of how to provide simple and affordable health care. Despite promises to the contrary, the government framework imposed on insurance markets has largely failed to reduce prices or increase consumer choice (if you like your plan, you can’t keep it), and with Joe Biden in the White House, we’re unlikely to see any efforts towards deregulation or decentralization any time soon. As usual, it’s up to individuals to find a way out of this mess.
Fortunately, individuals can be pretty resourceful. Just as Uber succeeded in making an end run around taxi monopolies and Airbnb offered much-needed competition to hotel chains, we’re starting to see signs of private, app-based health insurance as well. Oscar Health is an early entrant into this nascent market, relying heavily on telemedicine and negotiated prices with health care providers to insure its clients. In 2018, CNBC listed Oscar Health as one of its top 50 most promising “disruptors.”
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