CoOportunity to leave Iowa Health and Wellness Plan

DES MOINES - CoOportunity Health will withdraw from the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan - which provides health care coverage to low-income adults - next month, the Department of Human Services said.

The state has arranged for the 9,700 people affected to receive coverage through another component of the bipartisan-approved plan.

'The high utilization of health care services in (the Iowa Marketplace Choice Plan), most notably by the previous IowaCare population, has resulted in financial losses to the Co-op,” the company said in a statement. 'As a non-profit, member-governed new health plan, we cannot ask our 85,000 other members to pay higher rates to subsidize the 9,700 IMCP members.”

The Iowa Marketplace Choice Plan provides health care coverage to eligible low-income adults on the Health Insurance Marketplace. Medicaid pays the premiums of the health plan for the member, who receives care from providers approved by the health plan.

Des Moines-based CoOportunity Health, a non-profit insurance company, will leave the Marketplace Choice Plan at the end of November. Its members will begin receiving notification of changes this week and will be transitioned to the Wellness Plan with no loss in coverage.

The Iowa Health and Wellness Plan is an Iowa Medicaid program that covers low-income adults. Members can choose a provider from the statewide Medicaid provider network and are able to get care from local providers.

'These Iowans will continue to receive consistent benefits and quality care,” Department of Human Services Director Charles Palmer said in a news release.

Coventry Health Care of Iowa, Iowa's other Marketplace Choice provider, will accept all new Marketplace Choice enrollees in December while the state explores options.

'We have arranged for seamless coverage for Iowans who will no longer be served by CoOportunity and for new individuals enrolling in the Iowa Health and Wellness Plan,” Palmer said.