Due to financial struggles, New West Health Services announced Friday it’s stepping back from offering Medicare Advantage plans and, as a result, closing its doors at the end of the year. That will leave 33 employees in Kalispell and 84 statewide without a job, and thousands in need of finding new health insurance. 

Angela Huschka, the CEO of New West Health Services, said the Montana-based insurance company takes pride in the service it has provided the state for 18 years.

“However, with the increased level of complexity in this industry and the new challenges that affect our ability to break even, we are not able to make this insurance plan financially successful,” Huschka said.

Ryan O’Connell with New West said the decision to close came as insurance markets prepared for the Medicare Open Enrollment Period to kick off Oct. 15. He said people currently on New West health plans will receive coverage through Dec. 31, 2016 with no changes in benefits or copays. As operations slow, staff positions will be eliminated. New West currently employes 33 people in Kalispell, 49 in Helena and two in Billings.

“Right now, we’re just trying to focus on continuing to provide our members with the best service and helping our employees through this,” O’Connell said.

Medicare Advantage health plans allow seniors to tap into a wide range of insurance coverage at a reduced cost through private companies that contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS.

Roughly 13,000 of New West’s 15,000 clients were covered by the Medicare Advantage plan, according to CMS estimates. That’s about 30 percent of the 41,000 Montanans on the plan.

Mike Fierberg, with the CMS Denver regional office, said at least three Montana insurers still offer Medicare Advantage plans, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, United and Humana.

But not all providers offer the plan in each county, he said. In Flathead County for example, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Humana are the only providers offering the plan.

Current members on the plan will need to select another Medicare insurance option by Dec. 31, 2016, or they will be returned to Original Medicare on Jan. 1, 2017.

“So, it’s important for Montanans now with New West to carefully read the materials that are being sent, to carefully decide what they want to do about coverage next year,” Fierberg said.

O’Connell said as New West operations wind down, there is a comprehensive plan in place to support the New West staff during this transition. He said the members covered by the New West plan will receive additional communication with details about this transition and options for 2017 coverage.

NEWS of the closure came the same week CMS officials toured the Flathead Valley to introduce the Rural Health Council, a branch of the agency created in February.

CMS Regional Administrator Jeff Hinson said the Council aims to strengthen collaboration with local health-care providers, improve access to care and increase outreach within rural communities.

Thursday night, roughly 36 providers met with Hinson at Kalispell Regional Medical Center to talk about the complexity of health care in a rural state. Hinson said many concerns wrapped around the need for insurance policies that support innovative care in a state with 1 million patients scattered across 94 million acres.

“We talked about unsurprising issues, like transportation in a state where working folk have to travel 100 miles to go to a hospital,” Hinson said. “How do our policies support, or maybe don’t support, these issues? Those are big challenges as a health-care organization, to make sure we don’t impede care in rural frontier America.”

Part of the Council’s focus is to collaborate with local providers in an effort to assist in development and outreach strategies.

Hinson said with the 2017 Medicare Open Enrollment Period set to kick off Oct. 15, it’s important that the more than 201,000 Montanans enrolled in Medicare realize they have insurance options.

He said in preparation for the enrollment period, people on Medicare should assess their current medical situation and compare those needs to the plans they have.

“Seniors need to know they have a lot of options out there, and they have time to window shop,” he said. “About eight out of 10 beneficiaries actually save money when they look over and change their plans. Though the vast majority of folks stay where they are.”

To review plan options, visit https://www.medicare.gov.

To talk with a local Montana volunteer concerning Medicare enrollment questions, call 1-800-551-3191.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.