Bright Health’s chief operating officer is leaving the company after approximately 16 months on the job, the company announced Thursday.
Jeff Cook joined Bright Health in May 2022. Last week, the Bloomington-based company and Cook agreed that he would leave with separation benefits effective Oct. 13, according to a regulatory filing.
Bright Health’s power of attorney shows Cook is entitled to a $2.25 million severance payment. A spokesman said the company would not comment.
“Mr. Cook’s responsibilities will be reallocated to other members of the company’s management team,” the company said Thursday.
Earlier this week, Bright Health disclosed a repayment plan to health insurance regulators after failing to fully meet its risk adjustment obligations to the federal government by mid-September.
The company expects to pay off the balance owed – about $380 million – over the next 18 months, relying on proceeds from an expected sale of its Medicare health insurance business in California.
If Bright Health doesn’t pay, the federal government wouldn’t have to cover the shortfall. With the risk adjustment program, the government simply transfers money from health insurers who are required to pay to those who are owed money.
Bright Health went public in June 2021 in the largest initial public offering of a Minnesota company to date. The company suffered big losses from missteps in the health insurance business and announced last October that it would withdraw from all 15 states where it sold insurance to individuals – by far its largest business at the time.
No longer a traditional health insurer, Bright Health now focuses on operating a number of company-owned medical clinics in the South while managing “value-based care” contracts between medical groups and health insurers.
