[3][4] 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.

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] The company was founded in 1984[3] by Stephen Wiggins targeting "upscale" doctors and consumers.

[9][10][11] At that time, the Wall Street Journal described the company's services as "Ill-Managed Care";[7] earlier, in 1995, Newsweek's "Deliver, Then Depart" had criticized its practice of limiting payments for new mothers to "drive-through deliveries".

[12] In 1997 the firm had been fined $3 million for a variety of legal violations[13] amidst false claims of alleged profits[14] that included double counting of premiums.