Oscar Health is aiming to rethink the way people shop for coverage with the launch of its new marketplace, Lucie.
The AI-powered platform is built as a one-stop shop for individuals seeking an array of health plans and supplemental benefit options. Also, it aims to support employers in offering individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements, or ICHRA, to members.
In an announcement, the insurer said that the store includes a mix of leading carriers on the individual market alongside supplemental benefit carriers like Aflac and Golden Rule. They're able to select from multiple types of coverage—including medical, dental, vision, hospital care and accident, among others—at different price points to build the package that works for them.
Oscar said that Lucie features individual networks across almost every zip code.
In addition, the platform is able to offer instant quotes, enrollment and renewals across insurance carriers, which supports choice alongside simplicity. Many consumers expect an experience from healthcare that mirrors what they see in other industries, like retail and finance.
"When shopping for healthcare becomes as easy as booking a hotel, we can eliminate decades of inefficiency," Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini said in the press release. "If you want a value medical plan with extra hospital coverage, you choose that. If you want robust coverage for a health condition, you bundle multiple services in one plan."
"We are putting consumers in control so they can buy what fits their lives," he continued. "Lucie will make healthcare work like every modern market."
As a major player in the individual market, Oscar has been a leading voice in the push for ICHRA expansion. Under these models, an employer offers workers a stipend to select coverage on the insurance exchanges rather than offering the plans themselves.
ICHRA proponents have argued that this makes it easier for people to find plans that meet their unique needs and can support small- and mid-size businesses in offering benefits to workers.
Through Lucie, workers who are offered ICHRA can readily narrow down viable choices and have greater clarity into their annual costs, the company said.
Oscar also said that Lucie also is designed to support brokers. The platform's filtering and comparison tools can make it easier to answer member questions during enrollment, and they are able to quote or enroll individuals, much like consumers can on their own.
The insurer said in the announcement that it expects Lucie could serve "millions of entrepreneurs, full- and part-time employees, gig workers and early retirees," groups that have often been underserved or left out of the traditional employer-sponsored market.
“Employer healthcare looks good on paper but fails the moment medical bills hit,” Bertolini said. “Lucie is the first step to fixing that. Instead of being forced into a few rigid employer plans, you build your own custom bundle of affordable products for better financial protection."