Most leading health plans see enrollment gains in first quarter 2011

Most of the nation's leading health plans saw enrollment gains in the first quarter of 2011 and all saw improved profit margins both year-over-year and for the quarter, a promising start for 2011. Between December 2010 and March 2011 top plans saw an aggregate increase of more than 2.0 million members. While aggregated fully-insured business continued to experience losses, the administrative services only (ASO) segment gained over 2.2 million members during the primary 2011 open enrollment season. Membership gains occurred across Medicare, Medicaid and Commercial lines of business.

“1st Quarter 2011 Results Promising for Leading Health Plans”

Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), a leading provider of market data and intelligence solutions, found -- for the seven leading U.S. health insurers -- total membership increased from 125.9 million as of December 2010 to 128.0 million as of March 2011. Both the Senior and Medicaid market sectors for top health plans continued to see growth, gaining nearly 259,000 and 165,000 net new members during the first quarter, respectively. The Commercial sector saw a net gain of 1.6 million members between December 2010 and March 2011.

Direct comparison of leading health plans' financial situations is difficult because they use diverse strategies to grow their respective businesses and operate with disparate business models. However, all of the top health plans saw improved profitability between 1Q10 and 1Q11 and from 4Q10 to 1Q11.

In the latest Healthcare Business Strategy report, MFA reviewed enrollment and financial trends among seven top health insurers: Aetna, CIGNA, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), Humana, Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint. These seven health plans cover 41% of the total population in the nation. Membership data, financial statistics and observations were gleaned from the July 2011 Health Insurer Insight™ series.