Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, the largest health insurer in the state, will no longer offer agents and brokers commissions on individuals health plans, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The alteration affects commissions for health plans that were sold outside the open enrollment period and take effect April 1. It doesn't affect individual policy renewals or renewals in the Medicare market.
Blue Cross saw early success on the individual insurance market in 2014 and early 2015. But its members used a significant amount of services, and Blue Cross has suffered financial losses. The insurer was forced to raise premium prices for 2016 individual plans.
"[A]s the individual market evolves, we in turn need to make changes to the way we operate in order to continue offering sustainable health plan options to our members," Blue Cross said in a statement, according to the report. The insurer will "re-evaluate producer commissions" for plans that take effect Jan. 1, 2017.
Blue Cross informed agents and brokers of the switch Feb. 23.
Other insurers, including UnitedHealth Group, Aetna and Oscar Health have adopted similar commission-free measures.