Moda Health keeps going

Moda Health keeps going

ModaInsurance regulators in Oregon and Alaska now think Moda Health Plan Inc. has a shot at raising the cash it needs to keep its health insurance operations stable for the rest of the year.

The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services and the Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development have agreed to orders that let Moda resume normal operations in their jurisdictions.

Regulators in the states put Moda under a supervision order in January and suspended the company’s ability to sell new coverage.

The new orders require Moda to keep all existing coverage in place through the end of the year, and to sell individual coverage in both Oregon and Alaska. The Alaska order lets Moda continue to sell group coverage in that state. Oregon does not say in its order or press release whether Moda can sell new group coverage in Oregon.

Moda has been one of two major issuers selling coverage through the Alaska Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) public exchange program.

Moda has also agreed to provide a $15 million cash deposit to protect Alaska policyholders. The company is supposed to supply the cash for the deposit in three $5 million deposits, with the first installment due Feb. 16.

The company also must raise $179 million in new capital to improve its risk-based capital ratio, and it must send monthly financial reports to regulators in Oregon, Washington state and Alaska.

Alaska’s department officials say in answers to questions about the Moda orders that they have seen a plan that identifies the assets that Moda is trying to sell and a timeline showing when Moda hopes to sell the assets.

“Confidentiality is required to avoid jeopardizing prospective deals,” officials say. “To say more could disrupt market negotiations and undermine the value of transactions, which would ultimately be detrimental to consumers.”

Moda now has about 60,000 individual coverage holders in Oregon and 10,000 individual coverage holders in Alaska, according to figures from the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation and the Alaska Division of Insurance.

The company ended 2015 with about 149,000 group plan enrollees in Oregon and 4,500 in Alaska.

Moda Health is an affiliate of Oregon Dental Service (ODS), a nonprofit mutual benefit carrier that’s a member of the Delta Dental plan family. ODS Health changed its name to Moda in 2013.

Moda Health was selling coverage in Oregon, Alaska, California and Washington state at the beginning of 2015. The state announced plans in October to withdraw from California and Washington state because of concerns about its finances.

The company said last fall that it expected problems with the PPACA risk corridors program to cost it about $78.3 of the $89.5 million in risk corridors program receivables it had been hoping to receive.