Dive Brief:
- Community Health Alliance, Tennessee’s health insurance co-op, will stop offering health insurance coverage in 2016, reports The Tennessean.
- The move will make nearly 27,000 individuals find insurance elsewhere.
- In January, the co-op froze enrollment. The organization will continue to pay out existing claims and slow down its operations, The Tennessean reports.
Dive Insight:
It’s been the darkest of autumns for the health co-ops created under the ACA. Earlier this week, Kentucky Health Cooperative announced its plan to shut its doors due to financial hardships. In September, Health Republic Insurance of New York was ordered to stop selling policies and in late August Nevada Health CO-OP became the fourth of such co-ops to fail.
The co-ops were created by Congress in an effort to increase competition and keep costs down. Daniel Levinson, inspector general at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, wrote in an August report 22 of the 23 co-ops lost money last year; most had fewer enrollees than had been originally predicted.
As previously reported by Healthcare Dive, CHA's enrollment grew "exponentially" from 2014 to 2015—although in 2014, the CO-OP enrolled fewer than 1,000 individuals in five of eight rating areas, against a goal of 25,000.
Community Health Alliance policyholders will keep coverage through 2015 as long as their premiums are paid.
The health insurance open enrollment period begins Nov. 1.