Oxford Health Plans of New York has become the latest casualty of Obamacare. Per their announcement last week, Oxford will be exiting the downstate New York individual health insurance market effective January 1st 2017. This news follows United Healthcare’s announcement of their individual market exit in most US states back in April (UHC is Oxford’s parent company).
Existing Oxford individual policy holders will begin to see non-renewal notices arrive in the mail this week, which will recommend that they seek alternative coverage from other carriers effective 1/1/17 as to avoid a lapse.
While there will be (at least for now) alternative individual market carriers to choose from, the big impact of Oxford’s exit will be the loss of the Metro Network, which provided downstate NY residents with access to the top three hospitals in New York City under one policy: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Hospital For Special Surgery, and New York Presbyterian. Of course, with Oxford’s announcement of this exit, it’s possible that the remaining carriers affording individual market coverage in downstate New York will seek to negotiate contracts with these providers as a means to satisfy customer needs (though this is highly unlikely). We’ll know more on this as we approach the 2017 open enrollment season, which is slated to begin on November 1st 2016.
For more information about these Oxford changes, or for additional information regarding individual market health insurance policy alternatives in downstate New York, contact an insurance broker.