Group Health Insurance Indianapolis – IU Health Updates
At the end of June, IU announced that they were leaving the individual market. There announcement was very quiet and received almost no media attention.
IU Health Plan is owned/an extension of Indiana University Health. The medical group has had insurance products available in Indiana. They offer group health for both small & large employers and Medicare Advantage for the senior market.
In 2014, they launched they’re under 65 Individual health plans as quietly as they announced their exit. It took them about a year to put together an effective distribution channel outside the market place. It also took time for IU to develop their message, that message was healthcare integration.
Healthcare Integration is where all your doctors are in communication with one another. If a member was being treated for an acute condition, this doctor communication would lead to better treatment outcomes and a better patient experience.
As a broker, the healthcare integration appealed to me. We enrolled a lot of Hoosiers in the IU health plans both on and off the exchange. The first 2 years, we had no clients that had complaints. They were either all healthy or the integrated care model was working.
2015 is when IU increased their individual membership. They ended up being penalized by the Affordable Care Act under risk adjustment. Their membership was healthier than they predicted. This was one of the reasons they choose to leave the marketplace in 2017.
Now, they have decided to exit the individual market completely in 2018. With Anthem exiting the market, this creates a huge unknown when it comes to risk. Regardless of the reasons why IU chose to leave the individual market, this is another blow to the Individual market in Indiana.
