Colorado: 2017: Humana is out but the future still looks BRIGHT

Thanks to Louise Norris for the heads up:

UnitedHealthcare / Humana Insurance

For 2017, UnitedHealthcare, along with most of its subsidiaries, is discontinuing its participation in the individual market in Colorado, both on and off the exchange.  However, Golden Rule Insurance, a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare, will continue to offer its individual plans in Colorado off of the exchange.  UnitedHealthcare will also continue its small and large group business in the state.

Humana will continue in the small group market for 2017 off the exchange, while exiting the individual market for both Humana Health Plans and Humana Insurance Company.  

OK, so UnitedHealthcare is out except for off-exchange Golden Rule; this is actually an improvement over the prior United news, since it was assumed they were pulling out of the state completely.

Humana dropping out is also not unexpected, as they had already announced plans to drop out of 5 other states.

As for the actual impact:

The discontinuance of the UnitedHealthcare plans will impact 10,549 people, while the Humana plans going away will impact 9,914 people.  To put that into context, 7.7% of Coloradans purchased their health insurance in the individual plan market (not from employers) in 2015, both on and off the exchange, or about 420,000 people, according to the 2015 Colorado Health Access Survey from the Colorado Health Institute. That means that about 4.8% of the people buying individual plans will be impacted by the actions of UnitedHealthcare and Humana, or 0.38% of Coloradans.   

Any consumers with individual plans from these companies should know that their coverage will remain in place until Dec. 31, 2016.  Consumers should expect notices in July from the companies regarding the cancellation of their plans.

There's also some good news in the same notice:

Bright Health Insurance

Bright Health Insurance Company has applied to be licensed as a health insurance company in Colorado.  Bright's application to be licensed, and all related healthcare filings, is currently under review by the DOI.

I took a look at Bright's filing, and it specifically states:

Exchange Intentions: Most plans will be offered On and Off Exchange. Gold plans will be offered On Exchange only.

Huh. That bit about Gold plans is kind of odd, but whatever; glad to have you on board, Bright!