Premier: Our insurance business didn’t gain enough customers
The decision leaves 9,500 Medicare Advantage policy holders looking for a new plan, though Premier doesn't disclose how many commercial insurance policy holders it has.
The
"We did not see a future where we were going to be able to make it financially viable. And so therefore it was a bigger drain on the system where we are trying to put our resources to where they are needed by the community," said
Shaw also said that it was difficult to attract enough policy holders to their insurance business when the
Premier, which operates four area hospitals, announced Friday that it will get out of the business of managing Medicare Advantage plans by
While Premier will stop selling its own insurance plans, its hospitals and doctors will still accept the same insurance policies from other companies and managed Medicaid and Medicare plans.
After Premier stops operating its Medicare Advantage plan by
For those with Medicare Advantage looking for a new plan, the
CareSource, a
Premier stated that its exit from the commercial insurance market at the beginning of 2019 will give business clients time to choose another insurer without needing to hold a special enrollment period for their employees.
Premier stated that its goal is to offer all employees who were working in the insurance business a job somewhere else in the organization.
Premier Health Plan was announced in August, 2014, at a time when hospital systems across the country dove into the health insurance industry. The Affordable Care Act appeared poised to create a flood of new customers to buy their policies.
But the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces failed to attract enough young, healthy people to offset the high costs of caring for older and sicker policy holders. In June, Premier announced it was leaving the federal health insurance exchange.
The federal government under President
"We went into it for all the right reasons, but the reality is the government changed some of the rules," Shaw said.
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