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Braven Health will expand to all New Jersey counties for 2023, the New Jersey Medicare company announced Oct. 10. 

Launched in September 2020, Braven is the only New Jersey Medicare company jointly owned by the state’s largest health insurer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, and two of the state’s leading health systems, Hackensack Meridian Health and RWJBarnabas Health. 

The Newark-based company welcomed its first members in January 2021. It currently has an enrollment of nearly 28,000. 

Those eligible for Medicare in New Jersey will be able to sign up for a Braven Health Medicare Advantage plan during the annual enrollment period, Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, with coverage starting Jan. 1, 2023. 

Features: 

• Braven’s Medicare Advantage plans give members access to Horizon BCBSNJ’s managed care network, which includes the entire Hackensack Meridian Health and RWJBarnabas systems and is also made up of more than 54,000 providers and all the acute care hospitals in New Jersey. 
• In addition, Braven’s PPO plans feature nationwide access to more than 620,000 providers and over 4,300 hospitals in 46 participating states. Braven Health’s 2023 plans feature $0 premium options, low out-of-pocket costs and flexible out-of-network benefits, as well as enhanced benefits.   

CEO Luisa Charbonneau, who called Braven Health a “whole new approach to Medicare,” also noted that the company’s Medicare Advantage PPO plans earned four out of five stars from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. 

“Our expansion into an additional 13 N.J. counties allows Braven Health to offer our highly competitive plans to all of New Jersey’s Medicare beneficiaries,” Charbonneau added. 

Braven Health Provider Council member Dr. Philip Woodham, a Hackensack Meridian Health Medical Group internal medicine physician, said, “No one understands the needs of a patient more than their physician, and physicians are helping to create a health plan that meets the needs of the patients and communities we serve.” 

Those who are Medicare-eligible can learn more about Braven Health’s Medicare plans by visiting BravenHealth.com, contacting their broker or attending a virtual or local in-person meeting. For more information, visit BravenHealth.com/find-events or call 1-888-444-0393 (TTY 711).