The company said May 30 that its “relatively small Medicare Advantage membership does not provide the scale required to successfully compete in today’s complex and continuously changing market.”
“We explored every alternative path for our Medicare Advantage members and are disappointed we must exit this line of business,” CEO Erin Stucky said.
The organization has about 30,000 MA members. In total, BCBSKC insures about one million people through commercial, ACA, managed Medicaid and Medicare supplement plans.
At the beginning of 2024, CMS began implementing Medicare Advantage risk adjustment changes, which the health insurance industry largely opposed. The changes are being phased in over three years.
Facing lower margins and rising utilization rates, large MA insurers such as CVS Health and Humana have said in recent months they will prioritize margins over growing their membership, even eyeing market exits in 2025.
Thirteen insurers exited MA markets in 2024, according to KFF. In January, Cigna reached a deal to sell its Medicare business to Health Care Service Corp., parent company of five BCBS companies, for $3.3 billion.
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