True Health NM to exit New Mexico insurance market

About 38,000 New Mexicans must discover a new well being insurer subsequent 12 months.

Vibrant Well being Group, the proprietor of True Well being New Mexico, introduced Thursday that it’s going to not provide particular person and household plans for the 2023 plan 12 months to members in New Mexico and 5 different states.

Nothing will change this 12 months for New Mexicans with True Well being plans, however these members might want to discover new plans through the subsequent open enrollment interval starting Nov. 1, mentioned Joanie Griffin, talking for True Well being.

Group plans will keep in place by way of the top of the precise contract 12 months, she mentioned.

The corporate will work to verify present members have transitioned to new plans. Present members can attain out to customer support for extra assist, Griffin mentioned. Customer support for True Well being New Mexico will be reached at 1-844-508-4677.

Members will quickly obtain discontinuation notices, in response to a information launch.

The announcement of the discontinuation of plans in New Mexico comes simply over one 12 months after Minneapolis-based Vibrant Well being Group introduced the acquisition of True Well being from Evolent Well being for $22 million.

In accordance with the corporate, the transfer to not provide protection is a “strategic determination” to extend its deal with rising markets.

New Mexico, Illinois, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia — the states the place Vibrant Well being is discontinuing protection — signify 5% of Vibrant Well being Group’s whole income, the corporate mentioned in a information launch asserting the change.

About 30 jobs shall be misplaced in New Mexico from this determination, Griffin mentioned, although most staff will keep on till all plans have been phased out or till the top of 2023.

True Well being was based in 2017, after one other now-defunct group, New Mexico Well being Connections, acquired regulatory approval to dump its business enterprise to one in every of its distributors. That sale, to Virginia-based Evolent Well being, established True Well being New Mexico as a for-profit firm.

True Well being touts itself as a physician-led insurer; it was initially led by Dr. Martin Hickey, who was succeeded by Dr. Mark Epstein in early 2020. Epstein departed the corporate final month, Griffin confirmed Thursday.

Journal enterprise editor Gabrielle Porter contributed to this report.