Oscar Health Inc (NYSE:OSCR) shares are surging Wednesday, driven by a combination of a bullish analyst pivots and regulatory tailwinds. Here’s what investors need to know.
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What To Know: Piper Sandler upgraded the stock from Neutral to Overweight on Wednesday, nearly doubling its price target from $13 to $25, driving bullish momentum.
However, the central driver this week is the White House's imminent framework to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. Unlike diversified peers like UnitedHealth, Oscar's business model is uniquely tethered to the individual exchange market.
The administration’s proposal to extend subsidies for two years and raise eligibility caps to 700% of the federal poverty line is an existential win for the company.
Why This Matters: Without this extension, Oscar faced a fiscal cliff where expiring subsidies would skyrocket consumer premiums. This typically forces healthy members to drop coverage, also know as churn, leaving the insurer with a smaller, sicker risk pool, a phenomenon known as adverse selection.
By preventing these premium spikes and incentivizing lower-cost plans through proposed Health Savings Accounts, the Healthcare Price Cuts Act secures Oscar’s membership stability. This legislative clarity converts a major structural risk into a growth catalyst, fueling the stock's 25% weekly gain.
What Else: Oscar Health, earlier this month, reported third-quarter revenue of $2.99 billion, falling short of the $3.08 billion consensus, while its operating loss deepened to $129.3 million despite a membership jump to 2.12 million.
The company attributed the wider loss to an 88.5% medical loss ratio driven by higher market morbidity, yet it reaffirmed its full-year 2025 revenue outlook of $12 billion to $12.2 billion.
Benzinga Edge Rankings: Benzinga Edge data currently highlights a Momentum score of 54.80, reflecting the stock’s technical positioning as it attempts to capitalize on the new regulatory tailwinds.
OSCR Price Action: Oscar Health shares were up 9.23% at $18.28 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Read Also: What’s Going On With Johnson & Johnson Stock On Wednesday?
How To Buy OSCR Stock
Besides going to a brokerage platform to purchase a share – or fractional share – of stock, you can also gain access to shares either by buying an exchange traded fund (ETF) that holds the stock itself, or by allocating yourself to a strategy in your 401(k) that would seek to acquire shares in a mutual fund or other instrument.
For example, in Oscar Health’s case, it is in the Financials sector. An ETF will likely hold shares in many liquid and large companies that help track that sector, allowing an investor to gain exposure to the trends within that segment.
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