Iowa Hospital, Minnesota Insurer Form Insurance Company

Des Moines, Iowa-based hospital and medical clinic company UnityPoint Health is getting into the health insurance business.

The company said it has partnered with Bloomington, Minn., health care provider and insurer HealthPartners to create a health insurance company to be called HealthPartners Unity Point Health.

The joint venture is seeking licenses from insurance regulators in Iowa and Illinois and plans to begin selling Medicare Advantage policies late next year. Plans for other individuals and group policies for employers may be added later.

Troy Caraway, UnityPoint Health senior vice president says the closer insurers and health care providers can be brought together, the greater opportunity there is for coordinated more efficient care.

Hospitals across the United States have increasingly entering such ventures to create their own insurance companies.

Topics Carriers