January 25, 2010
Membership Continues to Fall for Top Health Plans

KENNEBUNK, Maine--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The nation’s leading health insurers continued to see membership declines through the third quarter of 2009. Between September 2008 and September 2009 top plans saw an aggregate decline of 1.7 million members. Losses continue to be experienced in both the fully-insured and Administrative Services Only (ASO) segments. The recession and high unemployment continue to take a toll in terms of declining membership for most plans.

Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), a leading provider of market data and intelligence solutions, found -- for the eight leading U.S. health insurers -- year-over-year, total membership for the eight leading plans decreased by over 1.7 million members, or -1.3%, from 133.2 million in 3Q08 to 131.5 million for 3Q09. ASO enrollment decreased -1.1% and risk enrollment declined -1.6% for these plans between 3Q08 and 3Q09.

The eight leading companies reported a combined loss of 860,000 members, between 2Q09 and 3Q09, with ASO enrollment declining -0.4% and risk enrollment declining -0.9% for the period. Health Care Services Corporation, which includes Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and Humana were the only organizations among the top eight plans to see enrollment gains in the third quarter. Humana was also among the few plans that saw year-to-date profit margin improvement when compared to 2008.

In the latest Healthcare Business Strategy report, MFA reviewed enrollment and financial trends among eight top health insurers: Aetna, CIGNA, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), Health Net, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint. These eight health plans cover nearly 60% of the total insured population in the nation, up 0.1% from third quarter 2008. Membership data, financial statistics and observations were gleaned from the January 2010 Health Insurer Insights™ series.

To read the full text of “Membership Continues to Fall for Top Health Plans,” visit the Healthcare Business Strategy library on Mark Farrah Associates’ website www.markfarrah.com.

About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)

MFA is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry. Committed to simplifying analysis of health insurance business, our products include Medicare Business Online™, the new Medicare Benefits Analyzer™, Health Coverage Portal™, Health Insurer Insights™ and Health Plans USA™.

Contacts:
Mark Farrah Associates
Debra Donahue, 207-985-8484