Yep...as expected, Friday Health Plans are shutting down NATIONALLY by the end of the year (or sooner)
Thu, 06/01/2023 - 11:55am
Texas: Friday Health Plans Bails; Another ~230K Enrollees Will Have To Pick A Different Day Of The Week
It was just four days ago that Bright Healthcare, which had been aggressively expanding their individual market coverage area footprint as recently as a year ago, suddenly announced that they were doing a complete 180 and instead pulling out of virtually the entire individual & small group markets nationally starting in January 2023.
...Well, just one day after the Bright Healthcare bombshell news broke, Texas-based health insurance broker Jenny Chumbley Hogue sounded the alarm on another large carrier bailing on Texas next year:
And its confirmed. Email received from Friday. Buckle up folks! Individual OEP in Texas is going to be a bumpy ride! https://t.co/AMNJ4rPyr3
— Jenny Chumbley Hogue (@kgmom219) October 12, 2022
March 29th, 2023:
Texas regulators have placed Friday Health Plans into liquidation and ordered the company to end all business in the state.
A district court in Austin found that Friday's Texas subsidiary is insolvent and had not maintained a minimum surplus of $1.4 million under state law. pic.twitter.com/3wetzhiVpB— AHVAP (@AHVAPORG) March 29, 2023
Friday Health Plans of North Carolina Stops Accepting New Enrollment
As of March 31, 2023, Friday Health Plans of North Carolina, after discussions with state regulators, stopped offering additional enrollment in North Carolina. This announcement does not affect those consumers who have already chosen Friday Health Plans of North Carolina for 2023 health coverage. This announcement also does not affect Friday plans offered in other HealthCare.gov states.
Friday Health Plans Inc., a Texas-based health insurance startup, has been placed under receivership by the Texas Department of Insurance and ordered to liquidate. The Travis County District Court found Friday Health to be insolvent, with total liabilities exceeding its admitted assets and total adjusted capital less than what is required under the Texas Insurance Code....
Prior to the receivership, Friday enrolled 293,111 members in Texas, making it the fourth-largest exchange insurer in the state. Members will continue to receive benefits until the company fully winds down operations, according to Friday Health’s website. The insurer continues to serve an additional 88,580 members in six other states; Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina and Oklahoma.
Insurance Commissioner Places Friday Health Under Supervision
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready announced today that he has placed Friday Health Plans of Oklahoma, Inc. (Friday Health) under supervision of the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID). Friday Health is a health maintenance organization domiciled and licensed only in Oklahoma.
Commissioner Mulready stated, “The decision to place Friday Health under supervision was not taken lightly. However, given the company’s financial situation, we determined this was the best action to protect policyholders and ensure their claims are paid.”
Friday Health is a subsidiary of the Friday Health group. The Friday Health group is Colorado-based and provides health coverage to individuals and families in multiple states. The company was founded in 2015 and had been operating the Friday Health Plans of Oklahoma HMO since 2019.
April 13, 2023: I received confirmation via email that Friday is indeed shutting down new enrollments in Georgia:
Dear Valued Broker,
In conjunction with the Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner (“OCI”) and CMS, Friday Health Plans of Georgia, Inc. (“FHP GA”), has agreed to suspend new member enrollments, on and off-exchange in Georgia. Existing FHP GA members are not impacted by this change.
As I noted at the time:
That would leave just Colorado as the only state left where Friday is still enrolling people. No idea how long that will last, though...
No New Friday Health Plans Enrollments for Remainder of 2023
DENVER — Today, the Colorado Division of Insurance announced that Friday Health Plans will not accept new health plan enrollments in Colorado starting Tuesday, May 9. People who are already enrolled in Friday Heath Plans will stay enrolled in their plan and can continue to use their coverage.
Adding insult to injury, Friday Health Plans was founded and is based in Colorado.
Yesterday, via the Georgia Insurance Dept (May 31st, 2023):
Important Announcement Regarding Friday Health Plans of Georgia, Inc.
Friday Health Plans of Georgia, Inc. (“Friday Health Plans”) will be placed into receivership to protect Georgia policyholders due to its reported insolvency and inability to raise additional funds from outside investors.
...Friday Health Plans policyholders that have health insurance coverage through the federally facilitated exchange – Your health insurance coverage will end at the end of the day on July 31, 2023. To ensure Friday Health Plans policyholders have an opportunity to replace their current exchange coverage before it is terminated, effective August 1, 2023, our office coordinated with the federal office known as the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight to implement a special enrollment period for members to select another exchange health insurance plan.
The special enrollment period starts on June 1, 2023, and ends on September 29, 2023. If you purchased health insurance from Friday Health Plans through the federal exchange you must choose a new exchange health insurance plan by July 31, 2023, to avoid a gap in health insurance coverage. We have set up a website to assist impacted members with the process of choosing a new exchange health insurance plan.
As I noted less than 24 hours ago:
While there haven't been any other announcements from the remaining 5 states where the other ~53,000 Friday enrollees are located, I wouldn't be at all surprised if similar announcements come from Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina and/or Oklahoma over the next few weeks. Officially, their coverage is supposed to remain in place through the end of December, but that was supposed to be the case in Georgia as well.
So much for "the next few weeks"...today, via the Colorado Dept. of Regulatory Agencies (h/t Louise Norris):
I noted yesterday that Georgia has around ~36,000 residents enrolled in Friday Health Plans who will have to enroll in different coverage before the end of July to avoid a coverage gap. This letter says Friday has around ~30,000 Colorado enrollees who may have coverage through the end of December...but the wording is pretty clear that this isn't guaranteed.
That leaves perhaps ~23,000 Friday enrollees in Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina and Oklahoma who I would strongly advise begin doing some research on other carriers on the ACA exchange in their state (although they shouldn't actually attempt to enroll unless/until there's an official announcement about a mid-year shut-down, which should result in a Special Enrollment Period similar to the one announced by Georgia yesterday).
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