SPRINGFIELD — Point32Health — the buyer of insurer Health New England of Cheers from Baystate – he says the sale it will be final in a few weeks.
And Point32Health, the nonprofit formed by the 2021 merger of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, says it plans to keep Health New England’s approximately 400 employees.
“Keeping local jobs is very important,” spokesman Philip Tracey wrote in an email. “We expect Health New England to operate largely as it has in the past for the foreseeable future. Our hope is that the greater Springfield area will become an opportunity for even more opportunities for Point32Health and its family of companies”.
Health New England is headquartered in Springfield’s Place Monarch office tower
Point32Health said much the same in a hearing before the state Insurance Division a listen in October A report of that hearing issued last month also reveals the sale price of $165 million, subject to customary adjustments, as well as a potential post-closing benefit of up to $20 million for achieving certain milestones.
The Insurance Division approved the sale and published its decision in November.
Baystate Health announced in February 2024 that it would sell Health New England, which has 180,000 members concentrated in western Massachusetts, to Point32Health. Faced with post-COVID financial constraints, Baystate Health said the volatility of the health insurance business with its up-and-down profitability was too big a risk to take.
Point32 Health has no plans to change the name to Health New England, Tracey said.