Why Oscar Health wants a piece of the Medicare Advantage pie

Everybody wants a SLICE of the fast-growing, money-making Medicare Advantage sector. The latest taker is Oscar Health, which has until now focused on snapping up individual commercial members that other health plans left behind when fleeing the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

Now the New York insurance startup, backed by a $375 million investment from Google’s parent company, Alphabet, hopes to stake a claim in the Advantage business where there is no shortage of experienced competitors.

It’s not surprising that Oscar wants to give Medicare Advantage a try. Many health insurers are investing in the privatized version of traditional Medicare as well as the provider organizations that can improve the quality and lower the cost of seniors’ care as...