WINhealth to Exit Insurance Market

Financial problems have forced Wyoming's second largest health insurance company to exit the market.

The Wyoming Department of Insurance (DOI) announced Wednesday that WINhealth will be going into a receivership.

"If an insurance company meets particular financial markers indicating that they are financially at risk, the department, by law, has to step in with the idea of protecting the Wyoming consumer," said Denise Burke, Senior Policy and Planning Analyst for the Department of Insurance. "And so a petition was filed with the court that was signed earlier Wednesday."

Burke says the DOI plans to help the 13,500 people who had coverage through WINhealth to find new insurance.

"The individual plans, they will need to enroll in a different program, but the small and large group coverage will be looked at individually because those have different start and end dates," said Burke. "We will be working with those employers, through the receivership, to find a new employer group plan."

WINhealth announced two weeks ago that it would no longer offer plans through the federal marketplace after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it was going to cut Risk Corridor payments by nearly 88%.

Burke says WINhealth was already struggling financially and the announcement by the federal government was simply the final financial blow to the company's continued operation.