Security Health Plan seeks to rejoin state employee health plan
Security Health Plan has applied to rejoin the state employee health insurance program, in part due to the anticipated departure of WEA Trust from the health insurance market.
The Group Insurance Board will consider Security’s application at a meeting next week.
Jenny Shermo, chief growth officer, said they plan to cover parts of central and western Wisconsin. WEA Trust is the largest provider for state employees in those areas.
“We wanted to make sure that the communities we serve have access to high quality healthcare at Marshfield Clinic Health System,” she said. “That was a major driving force, and we felt after digging into it and talking more with the state that it was the right thing to do.”
Security left the program in 2019 because it said the state’s offer didn’t work financially for them. The move affected 9,000 program members.
Shermo said their previous network tried to include as many providers as possible. This time around, the network features Marshfield Clinic as the main health system.
Marshfield Clinic has “evolved greatly” over the past few years, as it moves into the acute care hospital space, she said.
“We can really work together as an integrated system to bring down those costs and make it more affordable for the state, more affordable for the members,” she said.
Security wants to offer coverage in Barron, Chippewa, Clark, Eau Claire, Lincoln, Marathon, Oneida, Portage, Price, Rusk, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vilas and Wood counties, according to a Department of Employee Trust Funds’ document prepared for the board’s meeting.
Group Health Cooperative-Eau Claire, HealthPartners and Dean Health Plan/Prevea 360 are planning to expand networks or add new ones following WEA Trust’s departure.
WEA Trust said in June it’ll end its health insurance offerings after this year. The move affects about 52,000 state employee health plan members.
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