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Biotech / Medical : Oxford Health Plan (OXHP) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas Haegin who wrote (736)	1/9/1998 8:12:00 AM
From: Worswick	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2068

Given all the sturm und drang on this thread in the last three months I repeat Thomas... that holding OXHP was a gutsy move. "Short term bottom fishers are converted into long term holders by a sinking market". I think that has been a common experience of people who bought in the mid-20's on OXHP. However, reading many of your posts Thomas over a long period of time I do think you tried to buy value here. After so much has been thrashed out on this company on this and the Yahoo thread what more can one say. A few things perhaps. (1) Never once in all this disucssion have I ever heard anyone... I repeat any of the customers... say, "Oxford Health delivers crummy service at a terrible price." This company was and is the Bentley of HMO's. (2) It's very hard to buy a toll-bridge business, in the Buffet sense of a proprietary franchise, in this market. It still is damn near impossible to buy these kind of companies. As an investor one has to stretch to root out these kind of companies in any market. Hey, Warrenn Buffet bought Washington Post for $2 when everyone could have bought the Post for $2 at the same time he did. Captial Cities in 1991 (when Warren Buffett bought an even larger position) was a similar situation to OXHP in 1997. IMHO. You buy the warts with the opportunity in OXHP. (3) Whatever hard knocks the Harvard/Wharton business school graduates have taken by people who don't like "the establishment" here you can't take away from these institutions that they have fundamentally changed the way America and the world does business. This "new" way of doing business is not the common perception of the way American multinationals do business vis a vis the Roger Smith/GM mode of crushing dissent and ideas and new appraoches to busines. Rather,the Harvard/Wharton method of business seeks innovation. It says the individual counts. "YOU.. can do do. YOU can make this happen!" Sure that does lead to egotisim. Of course. You have to look at Wiggins career and see his company in a particular context of the Harvard /Wharton business school matrix. Then, look at the SEC documents relating to OXHP to see how they do business. I'd say OXHP was founded on principals that relate to breakthrough innovation. The intent of the company was to give customers a caring business profile in an industry that treats its customers like lab rats on a well-worn barely working conveyer belt. My entry point for OXHP was $25.85. Like you I was gong to "average down" at $18... my precise point. I am thinking I'll lower that to $5.85. My thinking is that, "Hell, it if goes to $10 it will go down to $5.85". I don't think that will happen but with the well-thought out dialog on your Asia Forum thread... who know we may all be headed for the abatoir. (LASTLY- and perhaps most importantly) OXHP has what I conceive a loyal young following amongst smallish innovative companies who know what the company is trying to do. These companies themselves have struggled mightily in the reaming of America duirng the 90's, which has totally and fundamentally changed the way people do business here. They have fought the samew problems as OXHP of insensitive regulators and a cold hearted-business establishment that would cut them absolutely no slack. Believe me these business - that have been forced to STRUGGLE - and now they probably regard OXHP as one of them. So. What is the choice for them in health care. The Blue's? Aetna? Cigna? These smallish business which make up what 60%-80% of OXHP'S clientele will hang in there with OXHP. As I said before Thomas it is hard to say anything new about OXHP. I wonder sometimes, in all the gloom on this thread, if people have forgotten who this company is. It always was its clients.