A new health insurance plan with ties to assisted living facilities is preparing to enter Oregon’s market, after passing its qualifying exam with the state Department of Consumer and Business Services – the first such effort in the state since 2014.
According to documents associated with that exam, which was completed this month, Marquis Advantage Health Plan, based in the Portland suburb of Milwaukie, was founded on Nov. 30, 2015, to operate as a licensed healthcare service contractor through a joint-venture with AllyAlign Health Inc., a for-profit Virginia-based company that specializes in managing the care of patients with chronic and complex medical conditions.
The new health insurer intends to seek Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services approval to operate Medicare Advantage plans across 20 long-term skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Oregon, according to public records. It expects to go live with these plans in 2017.
Marquis Advantage Health Plan was formed as a stock corporation with 10,000 common shares authorized – though only 1,000 have been issued so far, with 600 owned by parent Marquis Companies I Inc. and 400 owned by AllyAlign Health. Marquis Co. owns assisted living facilities, Alzheimer residences, and operates acute rehab and in-home care programs in California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon.
Marquis Co.’s stock in its health insurance startup cost about $180,000 and AllyAlign’s stock cost about $120,000, according to public records. The new health plan also received financial infusions from its founders in the form of surplus notes, or loans: $1,472,000 from AllyHealth, and $2,208,000 from Marquis Co.
Despite officially being based in Milwaukie, the Marquis Advantage Health Plan will be entirely run by Virginia-based AllyAlign, which will run “financial reporting, underwriting, claims handling, actuarial and the Institutional Special Needs Plans or other Medicare Advantage Plans,” according to the qualifying exam report issued by the state of Oregon.
Financial statements submitted as part of Marquis Advantage Health Plan’s qualifying exam show a company that, as of Feb. 11, was still just getting going. The new for-profit business had $3.1 million in cash, with another $555,000 available from its founding parent companies. Its common capital stock is valued at $300,000. So far, it has no liabilities, and total capital and surplus of $3.6 million.
State regulators found this week that Marquis Advantage Health Plan does meet state requirements, and can receive a certificate of authority to proceed with its startup plans.
Marquis Advantage Health Plan is the first company to seek to form a new Oregon health insurance company since 2014, when ZoomCare Health Insurance, Springfield Health Plans Inc. and NexDent Dental Plans Inc. all sought state qualification.
