Providence Health Plan zoomed past its competitors to wind up with the highest enrollment numbers in the individual market.
The latest figures released by the Department of Consumer and Business Services yesterday show that Providence ended up with 100,870 members – 61,282 came from the exchange; the remainder signed up off the exchange.
In doing so, Providence captured 41 percent of the individual market, while its enrollment numbers climbed by 38 percent from 2015. The majority of its members used the exchange to sign up – 61,282 people -- compared to 39,588 people who bought coverage on their own.
“Open enrollment has been successful for Providence Health Plan with membership growth in all lines of business,” Mike Cotton, CEO, told The Lund Report earlier. “We believe our commitment to service, customer value and our integrated care model are the key reasons so many Oregonians have selected our plans.”
Rick Skayhan, director of the benefits division at Leonard Adams Insurance, isn’t surprised Providence landed on top.
“They – along with the Oregon Health CO-OP were the two best choices,” he said. “Providence had the lowest prices and also yanked its hospital system out of the Moda individual market. What surprised me was that the CO-OP didn’t end up with more members. They had the largest network of any of their competitors.”
The CO-OP seems pleased with its results, with 13,184 lives, a 5 percent membership gain.
“Our strategy from the beginning has been steady, controlled growth to avoid some of the issues that faced other CO-OPs,” Rob Sumner, director of sales, told The Lund Report earlier. “Going into open enrollment, we anticipated the possibility of considerable growth given our price point in the market, our plan designs and provider network. We did have discussions with both the Oregon Insurance Division and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regarding the possibility of temporarily suspending enrollment in 2016 to avoid too rapid growth. They were both supportive of that strategy. While we did realize significant growth for 2016 we came just shy of the enrollment levels that would have triggered suspension. We did communicate the possibility to the broker community late last year.”
Despite its financial woes, Moda Health Plan still kept 62,593 people on board – which represented a 30 percent loss.
“Human nature is not to change if you don’t have to,” Skayhan said. “And, from a pricing standpoint, Moda is still a good choice.”
Following open enrollment, ZOOM+ now has 1,654 members. Skayhan attributed that low number to brand awareness.
“People have seen the clinics but still don’t know enough about their brand,” he added. “From our end, we weren’t allowed to sell their plan. I’d be more than happy to put them in front of groups.”
Here are the other enrollment figures with the percentage changes from last year:
- Atrio, 2,128, +1.2%
- BridgeSpan/Regence, 15.303, +6%
- Health Net (not on exchange), 914, -0.3%
- Kaiser, 23,775, +10%
- LifeWise, 19,454, +8%
- PacificSource, 4,859, +2%
- Trillium, 35, -0.1%
All told, 244,769 people signed up for individual coverage in Oregon. The enrollment numbers for the small group market should be available by early April, according to Jake Sunderland, spokesman. Diane can be reached at [email protected].
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