Oscar Health publicly confirms talks to bring it onto its marketplace, a potential new distribution channel
In a weekend interview, Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini named HIMS and said the two sides are in talks to bring it onto Lucie Health Marketplace, which Oscar launched in April. Lucie is an AI-driven consumer store, built around ICHRAs, for comparing drug and insurance prices, with potential reach of more than 200 million people.
Read more
The direction is mildly positive: it would add a distribution route into the ICHRA pool. But this is still talks rather than a signed deal, and it is not exclusive. The traffic it would bring is also cash-pay GLP-1 demand not covered by insurance, which is exactly the low-margin branded GLP-1 distribution business now squeezing margins. That reinforces the core tension between volume-driven revenue and structural gross-margin compression. A signed deal is a long way off, and it does nothing for the real proof point, the Q4 profit jump.
Key evidence
- Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini confirmed it himself in a weekend interview: for players wanting to sell retail drugs, Oscar is talking to Hims and also to other players.
- Lucie Health Marketplace launched in April 2026 as an AI-driven consumer store for comparing drug and insurance prices.
- It is built around ICHRAs (employers give employees money to choose their own health cover), and employees can spend what is left of the premium on dental, ancillary and retail health products.
- Aflac and Allstate Health are already on Lucie.
- Bertolini said Lucie could potentially reach more than 200 million people.
- Specific use case: on Lucie, consumers compare prices for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs that insurance does not cover, using money from their employer to compare the cash prices of HIMS and Mark Cuban's drug company.
- The 12 Aug results showed gross margin falling to 63.8% (76% a year earlier, down 12pp), and the CFO himself concedes it is low for the long term.
Price action
HIMS closed at $28.61 on 17 Aug (up 1.6%), reversing last week's post-earnings run of losses (from $30.51 on 11 Aug to $28.15 on 14 Aug). It is still down more than 60% from this year's high of $70.43 and 40% lower year on year.
Catalysts to watch
- Whether Oscar-HIMS moves from talks to a signed deal (no timetable)
- Actual conversion from Lucie Marketplace's reach into the ICHRA pool
- Whether Q4 delivers the profit jump (the real proof point)
Risks
- Still at the talks stage: no signed deal, no terms and no timetable.
- Oscar is talking to all the other players at the same time, so the arrangement is not exclusive.
- The traffic involved is cash-pay GLP-1 demand not covered by insurance, which is exactly the low-margin branded GLP-1 distribution business now squeezing margins.
- It adds another low-margin, high-volume channel and reinforces the core tension between revenue won through volume and structural gross-margin compression.
- Lucie is a price-comparison platform: it puts HIMS next to Mark Cuban Cost Plus and others to compete on cash price, which could squeeze pricing power.
Show 2 more
- No direct help to the HIMS data flywheel or the Labs story, since this is pure distribution matchmaking.
- The shares are down more than 60% from this year's high of $70.43 and 40% lower year on year.
Sources (2)
- Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini, weekend interview
- HIMS Q2 results, 12 Aug
A brief is a lead for our research, not a verified conclusion or advice.