Adjustments continue in the health insurance marketplace as we approach the annual enrollment period for national healthcare coverage. This latest change affects 27,000 Tennesseans. 
Community Health Alliance will no longer offer insurance coverage next year, forcing about 27,000 Tennesseans to find new health care plans.
The alliance, created under the Affordable Care Act as a health cooperative, will continue to pay out existing claims but will wind down its coverage by not taking on new customers.
The decision was based on the alliance’s financial condition, according to the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance.
Policyholders will keep their insurance coverage through 2015 as long as premiums are paid. They must re-enroll in a new health care plan during the Open Enrollment period, which begins Nov. 1. To receive coverage in 2016, consumers must enroll by Dec. 15, according to the department.
“This was not a decision that the Department took lightly, but it was the right decision,” Julie Mix McPeak, commerce and insurance commissioner, said in a statement. “With thousands of Tennesseans’ coverage hanging in the balance, CHA’s financial success could not be guaranteed. Ultimately, the risk of CHA’s potential failure in 2016 was too great and would have caused substantial detrimental effects on the market as a whole if it were to collapse.”
Without providing more detail, the department said it was concerned about a new federal program aimed at helping health insurers and new information that emerged about the alliance. New customer enrollment on the Federally Facilitated Marketplace had been stopped since January, but the alliance gained department approval for new 2016 rates in recent months.
Four carriers remain on the federal marketplace that will allow Tennessee residents to choose new plans and the department pointed them to www.Healthcare.gov to find more information on these options.
As I have told clients who are facing many changes in their healthcare, all of these company changes are a moving target to insureds. There is currently a ‘tug-of-war’ between Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennessee with some providers in this state as new contracts are negotiated. There are threats Blue Cross/Blue Shield is not offering to pay claims at some of these providers until a new contract can be negotiated.
We do our best to answer questions and offer assistance to those who need to adjust their healthcare coverage in this environment. Feel free to contact us by email at info@BentonWhite.com or call any of our staff at 615.377.1212. We write all kinds of insurance so we can get you covered. It’s just one of those times in the insurance cycle when healthcare insurance isn’t so easy to understand nor easy to obtain.
[Portions of this blog post taken from an October 14 article in The Tennessean written by Jamie McGee]
