NCIA Insurance Agency, a subsidiary of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, will stop writing new policies April 1, as it terminates its “exclusive life carrier” partnership with Fort Dearborn Life Insurance Co., now Dearborn National.

“We are currently evaluating our options going forward, which may include developing relationships with several other carriers,” according to a statement sent to brokers by NCIA. “For now, CareFirst will maintain only a limited relationship with Dearborn National, which will include passing any life prospects directly on to our Dearborn National liaison.”

Policies written by NCIA through Fort Dearborn will continue to be handled by Dearborn National, according to the notice.

CareFirst could find a new partner, but has not as yet, according to the broker notice.

Asked if the situation means NCIA will disappear, Kevin Kane, a spokesman for CareFirst said, “I can definitively tell you that NCIA is not dead.”

Calls to numbers provided on the NCIA website indicate that Fort Dearborn will continue to service existing policies.

NCIA, based in Washington, D.C., has sold employer-sponsored group and voluntary life and disability insurance through its affiliation with Fort Dearborn. It also offers short-term medical coverage through a partnership with Mid Atlantic TempMed, according to its website. Kane decline to comment on the number of policies written or any other aspects of the NCIA operation.

The NCIA footprint includes sales in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Delaware. CareFirst serves the same areas, except Delaware, where it owned the Blue Cross affiliate until 2003, when the Maryland General Assembly forced it to divest itself of the operation. That divesture came after CareFirst failed in an attempt to sell itself to WellPoint, a national health insurance company.