In a year when major insurers like Aetna and Humana are pullingout of state exchanges left and right—leaving some 35,000 people in45 counties with no insurance options, and 3 million more in 1,388counties with just one—a growth story like Oscar's is not onlyrare, it's virtually unheard-of.

This five-year-old upstart insurance company (currently offeringindividual coverage in New York, California and Texas) aims toexpand its individual market to three new states and offer plansfor businesses in four new states by 2018. Oscar reports thatengagement with its key features is up 35 percent year-over-year,and that 23 percent of members use its telemedicine feature—eighttimes the national average of 3 percent.

It launched in 2012 because cofounders Mario Schlosser and JoshKushner (yes, Jared's brother) were experiencing separate healthincidents and took note of how difficult and confusing it was tonavigate their health care plans. “No one was there to help themalong the way,” explains Sophia Norella, director of Oscar forBusiness and team member at Oscar since 2013.