Louisiana’s Medicaid program will lose another provider, affecting 290,000 people
Sep 01, 2026 | 8:14 pm ET
Description
The Healthy Blue plan will no longer be available to Louisiana Medicaid recipients in 2027. (Photo by Otto Kitsinger/States Newsroom)
Louisiana will lose one of its five Medicaid insurance plans at the end of the year, according to information the Louisiana Department of Health provided Tuesday.
The Healthy Blue plan, offered by Elevance Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, will no longer be available to Medicaid recipients in 2027. Approximately 290,000 people are members of that plan who will have to transfer to one of the four remaining options.
Those include Aetna Better Health of Louisiana, AmeriHealth Caritas, Humana Healthy Horizons and Louisiana Healthcare Connections. Medicaid programs provide publicly funded health insurance to lower-income families, people who are pregnant and those with disabilities.
“Additional resources for affected members will be available to ensure this is a seamless transition, and no one is left without the coverage they need,” Louisiana Medicaid executive director Seth Gold said in the health department’s news release.
During a quarterly earnings call in July, Elevance Health had announced it intended to leave several state Medicaid markets over the next 12 to 18 months. It pulled out of Washington D.C.’s local Medicaid plan in August, according to Fierce Healthcare.
Healthy Blue currently has the second large enrollment of any private Medicaid plan in Louisiana. Only Louisiana Healthcare Connections, with 364,000 people, has more participants, according to a state health department report from July.
In a news release, the health department said Medicaid recipients who have to switch plans will receive a letter by Oct. 1 with instructions on how to do so. An enrollment period to enter a new plan will be open for them from Oct. 15 to Nov. 16.
This is the second health care company to pull out of Louisiana’s Medicaid program this year. UnitedHealthcare left Louisiana’s Medicaid program in the spring following a legal dispute with Attorney General Liz Murrill over its parent company’s pharmacy benefits manager.
Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, who is chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, said four Medicaid plan will probably work better for a state the size of Louisiana. Doctors, nurse practitioners and other healthcare providers faced a lot of paperwork and other administrative tasks trying to manage six plans for Medicaid recipients, he said.
“I think four is a more adequate number,” McMath said in an interview Tuesday.
Representatives with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana could not immediately be reached for comment late Tuesday.
Since the beginning of 2024, when Gov. Jeff Landry took office, enrollment in Louisiana’s Medicaid program has dropped dramatically. Six privately run Medicaid plans covered more than 1.6 million people at the time. The five remaining plans serve around 1.2 million people, according to state health department reports.
Landry has been aggressive about screening Medicaid recipients for eligibility, but critics worry those tests sometimes result in people who still qualify for benefits being kicked out of the program.
Baton Rouge, LA
