Louisiana opens enrollment for 274,000 Medicaid recipients who must switch plans

The Louisiana Department of Health opened a monthlong enrollment period Thursday for people in the Healthy Blue Medicaid program to switch to another plan for 2027. Enrollment will end Nov. 16.

Healthy Blue, offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana and Elevance Health, is pulling out of Louisiana’s Medicaid program at the end of the year. The plan’s 274,000 members must join one of the four remaining Medicaid plans, according to Albert Simien, who oversees the health department’s financial office.

For Healthy Blue members who do not pick a new Medicaid plan, the state health department will assign them to one using an algorithm. The remaining options include Aetna Better Health of Louisiana, AmeriHealth Caritas, Humana Healthy Horizons and Louisiana Healthcare Connections. 

The health department’s algorithm will prioritize keeping family members in Healthy Blue on the same Medicaid plan once switched. It will also try to give Healthy Blue members a new insurer that will cover their existing medical providers, Simien said during a state Senate Health and Welfare Committee hearing this week. 

Healthy Blue members will be notified of their new Medicaid plan in late November and receive follow-up information about the plan in December.

All prior authorizations for medical treatment given under Healthy Blue will be honored for 60 days, including prescriptions and other treatment that might not be in the participant’s network on their new plan, Simien said.

This is the second big transition for Louisiana’s Medicaid program this year.

In April, UnitedHealth left Louisiana’s Medicaid market when Attorney General Liz Murrill threatened to cancel its contract.

At the time, Murrill was upset UnitedHealth, which covered 330,000 Medicaid members, refused to turn over legal documents about its prescription drug pricing she had requested as part of her lawsuit against the company.

Approximately 1.3 million Louisiana residents participate in Medicaid, which provides health insurance to people with low incomes or who are pregnant or living with a disability.