Oscar lays off 5% of staff

Oscar Health, the health insurance startup that raised over $1 billion from investors such as Alphabet, General Catalyst and Goldman Sachs, is laying off around 5% of employees. Mario Schlosser, Oscar’s cofounder and CEO shared a post on LinkedIn announcing the cuts, stating that the startup has to make sure that every dollar it spends goes towards the improvement of members’ health, their healthcare experience and the costs they bear for getting excellent health care.

Oscar Health , which counts around 1,100 employees, claims that is started with cutting executive compensation first, vendor spend second, and perks third, and they were then faced with the need to look at headcount. Despite the layoffs, the startup states that it will meet its “ambitious goals” which were set back in January.

“Earlier this afternoon, I announced that we are going to be reducing costs, which includes saying goodbye to about 5% of Oscar employees. Oscar’s mission is to make healthcare more accessible and more affordable for all. In any more normal time, that means finding a myriad of creative ways, through technology and engagement, to reduce the cost of healthcare for our members. For Oscar, this means that, now more than ever, we have to make sure that every dollar we spend goes towards the improvement of our members’ health, their healthcare experience and the costs they bear for getting excellent health care. This means that some projects that had early promise will have to wait; some ideas will have to remain ideas for now; and some things we like to do for our employees will become more modest.” – Mario Schlosser.