Dive Brief:
- LifeWise Health Plan of Oregon decided to bow out of the Oregon healthcare exchange market at the end of this year due to fierce competition and financial losses, the Portland Business Journal reports.
- The company lost $35.7 million last year, and its Oregon enrollees have dropped from 163,000 in 2004 to about 50,000 currently.
- Existing members will continue to be served through their current plan year, most of which end December 31.
Dive Insight:
Despite considerable efforts and investments, the company was unable to turn things around in the Oregon market, LifeWise officials said. The carrier suffered financial losses and declining membership in the state for a decade.
“As we looked head, given LifeWise Oregon’s relatively small size and the market conditions in Oregon, we decided to focus on our other markets, where we serve more than two million members,” Jeff Roe, president and CEO of LifeWise Oregon’s parent company, Premera Blue Cross, said in a statement.
Under the ACA’s risk corridors program, LifeWise was slated for $5.4 million in 2014. So far, it has received only $609,000, according to the Portland Business Journal.
The carrier’s exit follows that of one of the non-profit Affordable Care Act-created CO-OPs in Oregon - Health Republic Insurance Company, which announced in October that it was pulling out of the market.