ALAMOSA — Friday Health Plans continues to operate normally in Colorado. State regulators maintain the company is in good standing with the Colorado Division of Insurance.
According to Vince Plymell with the division, consumers in Colorado won't need to find new insurance this year as the company winds down its operations. On June 1, the division announced that in agreement with Friday Health, the company would cease operations at the end of this year.
"Currently, based on the company's financial reporting, the Colorado licensed entity, Friday Health Plan of Colorado, has sufficient capital to continue for the remainder of 2023. Of course, we will continue to monitor the situation as we move forward,” according to Plymell.
In Nevada on June 1, Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper filed legal action with the Nevada District Court to place the company there under receivership "due to growing concerns about the reliability of Friday's financial reporting to the Division."
A spokesperson for the Nevada Division of Insurance told the Valley Courier that questions about Friday Health Plan's bookkeeping resulted from "inconsistent figures and failure to meet reporting deadlines required by Nevada law."
If Friday Health does stay in business until the end of this year, members can continue to stay with the company and make progress toward meeting deductibles. Members are required to continue making payments to the company to keep policies current.
Ari Gottlieb a financial analyst with A2 Strategy group who follows healthcare told the Valley Courier, "The Colorado Division of Insurance appears to be actively managing the situation and, as Friday's primary regulator will be very aware of the circumstances. They have indicated they are ready to take additional action if needed, which may be likely at some point in the future. As more states take over Friday's plans and shut them down, it will become even more challenging for Colorado to remain the only plan standing, but members should not worry or do anything different as of today."
Founded in 2015, Friday Health had a spectacular rise and at one point had between 300,000 to 400,000 insured members. As recently as March 2022, the company was expanding, hiring as many as 15 new employees weekly. The company had as many as 300 employees in Alamosa and in November 2022 began laying off employees.
The company has not responded to requests as to the number of employees remaining in Alamosa or how long they will be employed. As of press time, the website of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment did not show any recent filing from Friday Health notifying the department of workforce reductions per the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
