Oxford Health Plans

Oxford Health Plans[1][2] is an American health care company that sells various benefit plans, primarily in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.[3][4]

For UK-based similar name see Oxford Health Alliance
Oxford Health Plans

As of 2004, it is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, the largest healthcare company in the world,[5] claiming to be "among the first" to allow patients to see specialists without a referral and to offer alternative medicine treatments.[1][6]

Overview

The dark blue membership cards carried by members belonging to its family of Oxford Health Plans included various subtitles, such as Freedom Plan and Liberty Plan; the card's color changed to white. The Wall Street Journal described their HMO as "trend-setting"[7] and noted that Oxford "even let patients visit specialists outside its own network."[7][8]

History

The company was founded in 1984[3] by Stephen Wiggins targeting "upscale" doctors and consumers.[7] It claimed major growth in the 1990s increasing from 217,000 members to nearly two million.[1] However, by mid 1998, the company had replaced its founder/CEO,[2] and his successor, William Sullivan.[9][10][11]

The Wall Street Journal described the company's services as "Ill-Managed Care",[7] and Newsweek's Deliver, Then Depart had criticized is practice of limiting payments for new mothers to drive-by deliveries.[12] The firm was fined $3 million for a variety of legal violations[13] amidst false claims of alleged profits[14] that included double counting of premiums.[7] In 2004[15] it merged with the 1985-founded[16] UnitedHealth Group.[17][18]

References
  1. "Oxford Health's Founder May Resign". The Los Angeles Times. February 24, 1998.
  2. Reed Abelson (April 25, 1998). "Oxford Health Plan's Turnaround Strategy Emerging". The New York Times. Norman C. Payson, the doctor named to take the reins of Oxford Health Plans
  3. "OXFORD HEALTH PLANS, INC. (Form 10-K, 2003)".
  4. "Caremark and Oxford Health Enter Into Five-Year Contract". The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). September 1, 1999. Oxford Health Plans, Norwalk, Conn., provides health plans to companies and individuals in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut
  5. "Top 10 health insurance companies in the US".
  6. "Oxford Health Plans Network For Alternative Treatments". The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). October 7, 1996.
  7. Ron Winslow; Scot J. Paltrow (April 29, 1998). "Ill-Managed Care: At Oxford Health Plans, Financial 'Controls' were Out of Control". The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
  8. Keith H. Hammonds (April 8, 1996). "Oxford's Education". Business Week. pp. 108–110. for an additional charge ... doctors outside its network
  9. Milt Freudenheim (August 6, 1997). "Oxford Founder Resigns Job; Company Posts Large Profits". The New York Times.
  10. "A Little Icing On Top". Newsweek. April 11, 1999. Norman C. Payson, who took over last year at Oxford Health Plans
  11. Ellen Sheng (September 19, 2002). "Oxford Health's Payson Plans To Retire at the End of 2002". The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Charles G. Berg, who is currently the president and chief operating officer, was named chief executive-elect. ... Dr. Payson became CEO in May 1998
  12. Sharon Begley (July 9, 1995). "Deliver, Then Depart". Newsweek.
  13. "New York State Regulators Fine Oxford Health Plans $3 Million". The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). December 24, 1997.
  14. "Oxford Health Plans, Aetna Post Strong Rises in Profit". The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). May 7, 1997.
  15. "UnitedHealth to buy Oxford Health". Chicago Tribune. April 27, 2004.
  16. "Health Annual Statement .. 2017" (PDF).
  17. Riva D. Atlas (April 27, 2004). "UnitedHealth Agrees to Deal For Oxford". The New York Times.
  18. Vanessa Fuhrmans; Dennis K. Berman; Rhonda Rundle (July 7, 2005). "Two Health Plans Agree on a Deal For $8.1 Billion UnitedHealth Adds Heft". The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).


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