Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN dropping individual plans for 2017

A major shift will be hitting the individual market in 2017, as Blue Cross Blue Shield will be dropping all individual market PPO plans. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is Minnesota’s largest health insurer, but have taken a loss of roughly $500 million over the last three years in the individual market according to BCBS. The insurer said that their claims for medical care greatly exceeded their revenue from premiums for those plans.

"The individual market remains in transition and we look forward to working toward a more stable path with policy leaders here in Minnesota and at the national level," the company acknowledged. "Shifts and changes in health plan participation and market segments have contributed to a volatile individual market, where costs and prices have been escalating at unprecedented levels."

This change will affect about 103,000 Minnesotans who had BCBS coverage. The company stated that they will be notifying all of those 103,000 individually to work with them to assess and transition them to alternative options for 2017. This change does not impact Blue Plus individual and family plans, Group Employer plans or Medicare plans.  Gov. Mark Dayton has attributed the departure of BCBS from the individual market to the instability caused by the Affordable Care Act.

The Minnesotans affected by this change (including the 20,000 that purchased their BlueCross plans through MNSure) will certainly want to contact a MN health insurance broker (MNSure assister) to review their options for 2017.  Contact a MN Health Insurance Network Broker or get an online health insurance quote.