Dive Brief:
- Minneapolis, Minn.-based Bright Health has chosen Colorado to be its flagship market, setting plans to offer individual policies on the state's health exchange beginning in 2017, the Denver Business Journal reported.
- Bright Health will offer the plans in partnership with Colorado-based hospital operator Centura Health.
- Centura's network Colorado Health Neighborhoods will serve as Bright Health’s exclusive provider of choice.
Dive Insight:
The arrangement follows major changes in the Colorado market since last year, when Centura was partnered with co-op Colorado HealthOP, which was controversially closed down by the state in October.
It also follows UnitedHealthcare's announcement last month that it is ending its participation in Colorado's marketplace, along with many others--leaving those states more wide open to competitors.
At the same time, UnitedHealthcare's former CEO Bob Sheehy now leads Bright Health, the Denver Business Journal noted, adding that Sheehy was tight-lipped about the specifics of its arrangement with Centura, saying only that they were "financially aligned."
The insurer also intends to offer its plans via private exchanges and brokers. Its application to operate in the state is pending with the Colorado Division of Insurance.