Leading Health Plans Are All Expanding

KENNEBUNK, Maine - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Total membership for the seven leading U.S. health insurance carriers increased 1.7 million members for the first half of 2012, for a combined enrollment of 131.1 million as of June 2012. Commercial, Senior and Medicaid segments all saw enrollment growth during the first six months of 2012.

Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), a leading provider of market data and intelligence solutions, found -- profit margins (net income or loss divided by total revenues) decreased from a combined average of 6.41% for second quarter 2011 to 5.37% for second quarter 2012. Mergers, acquisitions and/or expansion efforts are prevalent for all of the leading plans and may be the cause of profitability declines for six of the seven leading plans year-over-year through the second quarter of 2012. Many of the plans noted special costs associated with acquisitions as a reason behind the declines. Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealth completed acquisitions in the first half of 2012. WellPoint completed its acquisition of CareMore in 2011 and announced plans to acquire AmeriGroup in July 2012. Aetna acquired Genworth Financials' Medicare Supplement business in 2011 and announced plans to acquire Coventry Health Care in August 2012. HCSC and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana announced a proposed alliance in September 2012, which will enable BCBS Montana to become part of HCSC. Kaiser, which has not announced any acquisitions, is in the process of building new facilities which will expand its footprint in many of its markets.

In the latest Healthcare Business Strategy report, MFA reviewed enrollment and financial trends for Aetna, Cigna, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), Humana, Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint. Membership data, financial statistics and observations were gleaned from the October 2012 Health Insurer Insights series, a Mark Farrah Associates publication. To read the full text of "Top Health Plans Expanding," visit the Analysis Briefs library on Mark Farrah Associates' website www.markfarrah.com.