Name: Jay Matushak
Previous title: Senior vice president of finance, Bright Health
New title: Chief financial officer, Bright Health
Bright Health has appointed Matushak as its new CFO, effective May 12. Matushak is succeeding Cathy Smith, who is stepping down to pursue another opportunity, the company announced Wednesday.
Matushak, who joined Bright in 2021, currently works as SVP of finance and CFO of Bright’s health insurance segment, and is responsible for the wind-down of Bright’s Affordable Care Act insurance business. Bright late last year announced it would exit the ACA exchanges entirely to focus on the more lucrative MA markets.
Shortly after, the company said it would leave its MA business in Florida. Then, in late April, Bright said it was exploring a sale of its remaining MA business in California, which, if finalized, would mean the end of the company as a health insurer.
Bright’s pivot comes as the company faces acute financial challenges. Last summer, the insurer had 970,000 individual market enrollees and 120,000 MA members in 15 states. However, Bright’s business stumbled as risk assessment problems contributed to higher operating expenses later in 2021, leading the company to post steeper losses.
Bright, struggling with capital, failed to meet minimum liability requirements after spending the $350 million available in its credit facility, violating its agreement with lenders earlier this year. Lenders later extended a waiver to meet the requirements until the end of June.
If the California MA business is sold, Bright will be a standalone consumer-focused care business through NeueHealth, which provides care through 180 owned and affiliated clinics and is expected to make up a larger share of Bright’s revenue in the future
Before joining Bright, Matushak was CFO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota for six years. Before that, the executive spent 15 years at UnitedHealth in various financial leadership roles.
