Mountain Health Co-Op insurance provider to cease coverage for Wyoming residents

CHEYENNE — Mountain Health Co-Op, a health insurance provider for Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, is ceasing coverage for Wyoming residents effective Dec. 31.

Jackie Boyle, Mountain Health Co-Op senior vice president of external affairs, said there were a lot of factors that went into this decision, and that Mountain Health Co-Op is not the only insurance company in the country making decisions similar to this one.

The company’s decision was announced on its website Wednesday, but its board made the decision earlier this month. Boyle said they worked closely with the Wyoming Department of Insurance and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to make sure they made the decision in the most transparent way possible.

“I think it’s a mix of just finding where companies can offer affordable care, and where it just simply wouldn’t make sense to continue to offer something that people can’t afford,” Boyle said. “And that was really the decision we had to make — was that we could continue in this market, but likely our product would be so expensive that people wouldn’t be able to buy it anyway.”

Boyle said what’s really negatively affecting the company is President Donald Trump’s policy to end the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits, which allow people to receive a tax credit early to pay their premium and get their return, rather than waiting until after the end of the year, when an individual is filing their taxes.

Because the decision was made to end those enhancements at the end of 2025, Boyle said she anticipated that not only will costs increase to many people, it will also cause a lot of people to not have insurance.

According to an article by Insurance News Net, Wyomingites who buy health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace — of which Mountain Health Co-Op is a part — could expect an increase of about $1,860 in premiums annually. Some health insurance premiums in Wyoming may even increase five-fold.

“You do better as an insurance company the more people you have,” Boyle said. “So we just saw a loss of membership potentially happening there, as well, which just makes it really hard for us to offer insurance.”

Diane Gore, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming CEO, said in a statement to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that Mountain Health Co-Op’s decision is a sobering reminder of the pressure all health care providers are facing.

Gore said rising medical costs are outpacing what many people and insurers can afford, and without the support of the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, premiums will remain high, and coverage options will be reduced.

“This isn’t just about one company — it’s about the ripple effects that impact every patient, provider and payer,” Gore said in the statement. “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming remains committed to serving Wyoming residents with stability, transparency, and solutions that help them navigate this shifting landscape. Now, more than ever, we must work together to ensure health care remains accessible for all.”

Boyle said the Co-Op is organized similarly to a nonprofit. It doesn’t typically make any money, but when it does, its puts the money back toward members.

“We operate at such a tiny margin anyway in good times, but the cost of health care is rising everywhere,” Boyle said. “So we are raising our rates in Montana and Idaho for our members, but in Wyoming, that rate increase just would have been so high that it just doesn’t make sense.”

Mountain Health Co-Op CEO Blair Fjeseth said the company’s spending on a Wyoming member is almost double what it is in Montana, and even more than that in Idaho, which is counter to the Co-Op’s mission of providing affordable health coverage.

“It’s no surprise Wyoming has some of the highest cost of care in the country,” Fjeseth said, “and that goes along with rural and frontier communities. But our states with more competitors (and) larger provider bases have significantly less cost of care.”

Mountain Health Co-Op serves around 8,000 individual members in Wyoming, Boyle said. Because their plans won’t end until Dec. 31, Boyle said all Wyoming residents would have to do is wait for the next enrollment period and choose a new company.

With Mountain Health withdrawing, the two remaining options through the federal Marketplace are Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming and UnitedHealthcare.

If an individual gets Mountain Health Co-Op insurance through their employer on a group plan, Boyle said those people need to contact the employee in charge of insurance to be kept up to date on whatever new plan the employer offers. If someone is a group administrator, Boyle said insurance agents are a great resource for questions.

According to the Mountain Health website, Wyoming members will be eligible for three windows of enrollment: Open enrollment from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 for coverage that would begin Jan. 1, 2026; extended enrollment until Jan. 15, 2026, for coverage that would begin Feb. 1, 2026; and special enrollment until March 1, 2026.

“We’re disappointed that the Co-Op is leaving the Wyoming market, but we’ll do everything to assist consumers to find the appropriate coverage during this difficult time,” said Wyoming Department of Insurance Deputy Commissioner Tana Howard on behalf of Commissioner Jeffrey Rude. “We’re standing by, and happy to answer any questions that consumers may have.”

While Mountain Health Co-Op’s footprint in Wyoming is ending now, Fjeseth said the door is not closed forever — there’s a chance the company could come back to serve in Wyoming in a couple of years.

“It has been a wonderful experience being in Wyoming,” Boyle said. “We have great people — the people that we insure, the agents. I mean, we were just (getting) open arms from the state of Wyoming. And this was not an easy decision.”

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