Fortis Health, based in Milwaukee, will resume selling individual health insurance plans in New Hampshire some time next year, after fleeing the market in 1994. The announcement comes a month after New Hampshire lawmakers passed legislation to create a state-sponsored high-risk health insurance pool and give insurers more flexibility in determining premiums for individual health insurance policies.

Fortis, which specializes in individual and small group insurance policies, was one of 29 insurers that exited the New Hampshire market after passage of the state's "guaranteed issue" law in 1994, which required insurers to offer coverage to all New Hampshire residents, regardless of their medical history, and allowed little flexibility in setting rates.

Although the law was meant to benefit residents in need of health insurance in New Hampshire, it had the unintended effect of shrinking the market from 33 providers to only four, and tripling premiums in the process.

"These laws were originally set up to protect consumers, but they squeezed health insurers," says Fortis spokesperson Michelle Love-Johnson. "Health insurance is priced for risk. When you go against that, it causes problems."

Recently enacted Senate Bill 118 should help to counteract the damage done by the 1994 "guaranteed issue" law, according Love-Johnson. Under the new legislation, all New Hampshire residents will still be guaranteed coverage, but those with exceptionally costly conditions, such as cancer or HIV/AIDS, will be placed in the state-subsidized high-risk pool. In addition, insurers will be allowed to adjust individual premiums based on age, health status, and tobacco use.

Fortis was actively involved in lobbying for the passage of Senate Bill 118, according to Luke Kujath, a spokesperson for Fortis.

New Hampshire Insurance Department spokesperson David Sky says that no other insurers have yet expressed interest in reentering the individual health care market in New Hampshire, but it's still early in the game. The high-risk pool will not take affect until July 2002, at the earliest.

According to Love-Johnson, other states have faced similar problems in the individual health insurance market in recent years. In Kentucky, where Fortis left the market several years ago and reentered last fall, "the issues are almost carbon copies," she says.

Insurers are leaving Maine because restrictions on premiums are preventing providers from turning a profit. In response, Maine's superintendent of insurance is considering a bill that would allow insurers to set rates based on age, location, and lifestyle.

And in Washington state, a crisis in the individual health insurance market was curbed when the state health insurance board voted last October to create a high-risk pool.

When it reenters the New Hampshire market next year, Fortis plans to offer its policies to consumers through State Farm agents as well as independent agents. Fortis and State Farm joined forces last year in a marketing partnership that allows State Farm agents to sell Fortis' individual health plans nationwide.