Bright Health exiting six markets after a rough 2021

Photo: Morsa Images/Getty Images

After a year in which the company struggled financially, Bright Health Group will be exiting six markets, and will no longer offer individual or family plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah or Virginia.

According to a statement, those markets were forecast to contribute less than 5% of Bright's revenue for the year, with the company saying the move will have an "immaterial" impact on revenue in the coming years.

Bright Health framed the decision as an effort to "focus" its geographic footprint. Instead, the company said it would pivot to growing markets.

"We are always evaluating where we believe Bright Health Group is best positioned to enhance the healthcare experience for consumers and Care Partners in order to deliver the highest quality, affordable care," said Bright Health Group President and CEO Mike Mikan by statement. "We've demonstrated that the Fully Aligned care model works and are focusing on markets where we can continue refining and optimizing that model to drive better outcomes and support profitable, measured growth."

The company said that nothing will change for members or providers this year. Bright Health has pledged to help members affected by the change transition to new plans during the next open enrollment cycle to avoid interruptions in their coverage. These members will receive discontinuation letters in the coming weeks.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT

Financial results from 2021 show that it was a rough year for Bright Health. The company went public last June, raising close to $1 billion – a record for initial public offerings by an insurer – but reported a $1.2 billion loss in '21.

At the time, Mikan said the "worse than expected performance" was linked to the level of growth seen throughout the year. Bright Health delivered $4 billion in revenue throughout the year, and served more than 1 million health plan lives, but that growth "created challenges," said Mikan.

Most of the loss, the documents show, were composed of payments from Bright HealthCare to the NeueHealth care delivery and provider enablement business. NeueHealth still represents a core driver of Bright Health Group's future growth, the company said.

NeueHealth offers virtual and in-person clinical care to nearly 170,000 patients under value-based contracts through 44 owned primary care clinics, and supports 87 additional affiliated clinics.

Bright will focus on growing its Fully Aligned care model for 2023, according to the company, with a focus in deepening its presence in the 10 remaining Individual and Family Plan states, as well as building NeueHealth's external payer relationships.

THE LARGER TREND

It was less than a year ago, in August, that Bright HealthCare announced it was expanding into 42 new markets for 2022. Two of those markets were Utah and Virginia, which the company will now be exiting.

The company also announced an expanded product portfolio in states where it already does business, including Florida, California, Colorado and North Carolina. Bright Healthcare was also added to Covered California, California's state-based exchange.

Bright HealthCare also expanded in 2020, offering its Medicare Advantage, individual and family-plan products in six new areas in Florida, North Carolina and Illinois. It also added fully-insured small business plans to available products in certain markets.

Bright HealthCare includes individual and family, Medicare Advantage and employer-sponsored plans.
 

Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com