Florida’s Fastest-Growing Medicare Advantage Plan Insolvent

June 11--The state's fastest-growing Medicare Advantage plan has been declared insolvent and ordered liquidated, affecting more than 38,000 customers statewide and 1,347 in Palm Beach County.

Physicians United Plan Inc. (PUP), based in Orlando, will be closed by July 1 under a judge's order, leaving customers concerned.

"We're very nervous what to do," said a Boynton Beach woman who said she and her husband are customers. "I'm a heart patient and a kidney patient. I'm scared."

State officials are working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to transition customers to another plan or back to original Medicare, said Chris Cate, spokesman for the state's Department of Financial Services.

The insurer was declared insolvent and ordered liquidated by a judge in Tallahassee on Monday.

As recently as February, the company announced it was " proud to be at the top of the list for overall growth for its fourth consecutive year" among Medicare Advantage plans in the state, averaging growth of 30 percent a year, according to the company's website. It expanded from one county in 2005 to 17 counties "with plans to continue expansion through 2016."

Marketing director Gigi Henry said then, "Four years is great, but we hope to celebrate being the fastest growing Medicare Advantage plan in Florida 10 years from now. And we'll keep working hard to get there."

But in April, a state consent order said unless the insurer received a capital infusion of $30 million by June 3, there would be grounds for liquidation.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation found the insurer had assets of $92.5 million and liabilities of $105.3 million, leaving it "clearly insolvent." State officials took issue with its handling of $34.6 million in "risk-sharing receivables" due from medical providers.

"PUP's insolvency poses a serious danger to the financial safety" of policyholders and others, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty wrote to Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff AtwaterJune 3.

Attempts to reach a company spokesman Tuesday were not successful.

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