DENVER — The Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI), part
of the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), has been
closely monitoring and supervising the performance of Friday
Health Plan of Colorado, Inc. (HMO) since June of 2022.
In recent months, it became clear that the parent company,
Friday Health Plans, Inc. (Parent), would need to raise substantial capital in order to continue. The company was ultimately
unable to raise that capital, and has informed the DOI that it will
begin to wind down its business activities throughout the country, working in close conjunction with state regulators.
In response, Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael
Conway has issued the following statement, “The Colorado Division of Insurance will work with Friday Health to manage the
wind down of the company. 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.However, the Division will continue to closely
Cmonitor the company as this situation evolves.
“Friday’s problems are national — the company’s aggressive growth in other states around the country got ahead of their
financing. While Friday Health Plan of Colorado has maintained the capital required by Colorado law, the problems in other states and with the parent company are now impacting the company
here.
“The Colorado Division of Insurance has been monitoring the situation and has taken steps to protect Coloradans. We worked with the Legislature this past session to get HB23-1303 passed. This legislation offers protections to both consumers and health
care providers in the event of the failure of a company licensed as a HMO, which is the case for Friday Health Plan of Colorado. In addition, in May, the Division stopped all new enrollment in Friday’s plans. While insurance companies, like any business, do on occasion fail, we have taken steps to protect Coloradans and we
will continue to do that as the company winds down its business.”
Although the Valley Courier has requested comment from Friday
Health CEO Beth Bierbower numerous times, no comment has been received.
Instead, a spokesperson for Friday Health Plans issued this statement, “Friday Health Plans has grown incredibly quickly,which is testament to our ability to deliver affordability, sustainability and outstanding customer service. Unfortunately, Friday has been unable to scale our financial infrastructure to match the pace of our growth and secure the additional capital to run our business.
“While we are deeply disappointed, we agree with the decision of our State regulators that it is necessary to wind down Friday’s business operations over time in accordance with the regulations in the states where we are operating. We believe this action is in the best interest of our members. We deeply appreciate our employees and all their dedication to Friday and are grateful for their support as we manage this process.”
A request for comment on the fate of Friday Health employees was not received by press time.
Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.