A Google-Backed Health Insurer Wants to Disrupt Insurance

The health insurer Oscar launched in 2014 with $40 million in venture capital and a plan to disrupt America's $1.8 trillion health care industry.

Oscar positioned itself as a "simple, smart" alternative to stodgy industry giants — a health plan meant to live on smartphones and deliver virtual doctor visits. The timing seemed perfect, too: The new Obamacare marketplaces created an easy way to pitch consumers directly on a better experience.

But the Obamacare marketplaces proved a difficult business landscape. Two-thirds of the plans that participated lost money in 2014.