Matt Eyles (Photo: AHIP)
Fidelity Investments has decided that it needs to have a seat at the health insurance policy table.
The Boston-based money manager is one of the seven new member companies at America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), a major health insurer trade group.
Fidelity joined AHIP because it now manages about $3.5 billion in health savings account assets, AHIP said Wednesday.
For AHIP, another major victory was persuading CareFirst Inc. to return to the AHIP membership roster.
CareFirst — an Owings Mills, Maryland-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield carrier with 3.2 million major medical plan medical enrollees — left AHIP a year ago and now is returning.
In addition to being a large carrier in its own right, CareFirst is a company that provides coverage for many members of Congress, Capital Hill staffers, and private-sector policymakers in the Washington area.
Another new member of new note, National Guardian Life Insurance Company, offers Medicare supplement insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, life insurance and annuities. But it has gotten the most attention for daring to enter the market for stand-alone long-term care insurance.
The other new AHIP member companies are Bright Health, a company that offers individual, family, and Medicare Advantage plans in Arizona, Colorado, and Alabama; Central States Health and Life Company of Omaha. a company that is re-entering the health market, by offering Medicare supplement insurance plans, this year; First Medical Health Plan, a carrier in Puerto Rico; and Inland Empire Health Plan, a company that manages Medicare and Medicaid plans in California.
