Effective January 1st, 2018, Affinity Health Plan has announced that they will no longer be offering individual qualified health plans (QHP’s) in New York, ending their 4-year run in this health insurance market segment. This applies to their “Affinity Access” (on the Marketplace) and their “Affinity Direct” (off the Marketplace) plans. Any individuals currently enrolled in either of these Affinity QHP’s will need to switch to a new carrier, as their current coverage will end effective 1/1/18.
Earlier in 2017, Affinity had indicated their willingness to remain in the individual QHP market as evidenced by their 20.7% rate increase request with the NYS Department of Financial Services, which was extremely high. However, Affinity did not appear on the NYS DFS’s rate approval list for 2018 individual market plans, which means they withdrew their QHP’s from the market prior to the decision by the state. This marks the second health insurer in downstate NY to withdraw their QHP’s for 2018 (CareConnect announced last week their intent to completely exit the insurance industry pending DFS approval).
Affinity will continue to offer Medicaid and expanded Medicaid (Essential Plan) based health plans in downstate NY for 2018. However, for anyone who is currently enrolled in their non-Medicaid-based qualified health plans, they will need to find a new insurance company for 2018.
Open enrollment for the 2018 NY individual QHP season starts on November 1st, 2017. For more information about Affinity’s exit from this market segment, and to learn more about alternative coverage offerings with other insurance companies, contact an insurance broker.