Judge orders liquidation of WINhealth Partners

Jan. 15--CHEYENNE -- WINhealth Partners, once the second-largest health insurance company in Wyoming, will be liquidated.

Laramie County District Judge Thomas Campbell signed an order Tuesday to liquidate the company because he determined it was insolvent.

Liquidation means the dissolution of a company whose assets are turned into cash to pay off its debts.

Wyoming Insurance Commissioner Tom Glause will oversee the liquidation process. He also will continue to serve as the court-ordered receiver of WINhealth.

Glause took over operations of the insurance carrier last October after he found that WINhealth was financially at risk.

Glause and his team subsequently determined it is not possible for WINhealth to continue to succeed financially.

"After the first of the year, we have moved into liquidation," he said in an interview Thursday.

WINhealth policy holders will not face liability to pay health-care providers, Glause said. They will be held harmless, aside from being required to pay deductibles and other co-pay amounts, he said.

The Wyoming Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association -- a safety net created by Wyoming law -- has been activated to help in the liquidation process.

The association provides protection when an insurance company becomes financially unable to meet obligations and is taken over by the state's Insurance Department.

The association will make arrangements to pay claims with money collected from other insurance companies that do business in Wyoming. Money will be paid on remaining claims of the insured and medical providers who delivered health care, according to a news release.

Companies that are licensed to write insurance policies in Wyoming are required to pay such assessments.

"They can be assessed for another insurance company's failures," Glause said.

The association has a liability limit of $300,000 per insured person, he added. He expects that most health-care providers will be paid in full.

Glause has 90 days from Tuesday to notify other creditors and start a process to pay claims.

All creditors with claims against WINhealth must file proof of claims by 5 p.m. Jan. 2, 2017.

WINhealth Partners announced in October it no longer would be part of the individual health insurance marketplace.

WINhealth and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming sold insurance on the exchange, which came about as part of the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Two weeks after the company's announcement, the state Department of Insurance took over operations of the company.

About 13,000 people in Wyoming had to find insurance elsewhere after the announcement.

WINhealth officials cited new costs coming from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a big factor in its decision to no longer be a part of the marketplace.

Its officials said the rate of repayments was too uncertain to guarantee it could continue meeting its cost obligations.

WINhealth still remains open to process claims from 2015.

"I can tell you there will be a group of employees who will continue to work with the company to help wind down operations," WINhealth spokeswoman Caitlin Rooney said Thursday.

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