True Health will pull out of beWellNM health insurance exchange [The Santa Fe New Mexican]

Apr. 26—New Mexicans with health insurance policies at True Health New Mexico will have to shop for another insurance company for 2023.

Bright Health, which acquired True Health in April 2021, recently announced it is pulling out of New Mexico as well as Illinois, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.

This will affect 35,000 policyholders in New Mexico, including

10,253 individuals and 256 groups enrolled through the beWellnm health insurance marketplace.

"The policies will be in effect through their contract year, depending on when they purchased the policy," said Joanie Griffin, a publicist speaking on behalf of True Health.

That generally means True Health policies are good through 2022 or into the first months of 2023 if policies were purchased in the first four months of this year.

Bright Health/True Health will send out notices to policyholders at least 180 days before their coverage ends, the New Mexico Office of the Superintendent of Insurance reported.

"When it comes time for renewal, True Health will not be offered," Griffin said. "People should not see any changes while they are covered."

Bright Health/True Health did not provide any specific reason why it was withdrawing from New Mexico or the other five states.

"Delivering on our commitment to provide a truly aligned model of care requires that we continually evaluate market changes and evolve to make the greatest impact both today and for the long term," the Bright Health statement reads. "Unfortunately, that means we will no longer offer Individual and Family Plan products in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia, and will also wind down our Employer Group segment."

True Health has been a state health exchange provider on its own since 2018, but True Health broke away from New Mexico Health Connections that year. New Mexico Health Connections, which ceased to operate at the end of 2020, had been a part of beWellNM since the beginning in 2014.

People getting health insurance through beWellNM for years have had numerous options of insurance carriers. "Consumers in New Mexico have more insurer options than consumers in most of the rest of the country," healthinsurance.org wrote in an extensive overview of New Mexico's exchange.

The health insurance exchange carriers for 2022 are Molina and Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico, Friday Health Plans, Ambetter (also known as Western Sky Community Care), True Health and Presbyterian Health Plan.

"We don't know yet what plans we will have next year," said Julie Weinberg, director of the Life and Health Division at the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance. "Plans will file applications at the end of May."

Open enrollment for 2023 begins Nov. 1, but beWellnm enrollees can start researching plans in October.

"If no action is taken during open enrollment, True Health's beWellnm enrollees will automatically be assigned to a different company's health plan offered through beWellnm with a similar monthly premium and similar out-of-pocket costs," beWellnm wrote in an online post.

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