MCMURRAY, Pa., Feb. 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In the latest Healthcare Business Strategy report, Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), www.markfarrah.com, assessed third quarter 2015 enrollment and profitability for Aetna, Cigna, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), Humana, Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealth Group and Anthem. These seven industry leaders insure or administer coverage for over 56% of the U.S. health insurance population. MFA reported that total medical membership of the leading companies marginally increased by 2.3%, as these companies collectively added nearly 3.3 million members since 3Q14 and year-over year profitability was generally favorable. Membership data, financial statistics and observations were gleaned from the January 2016 Health Insurer Insights™ series, a Mark Farrah Associates™ publication.
Most of the top health insurers realized net gains in the total number enrolled in Commercial, Medicare and Medicaid plans for third quarter 2015 reflecting varying degrees of both growth and decline in risk-based and self-funded medical membership. As of September 30, 2015, UnitedHealth maintained its position as the industry leader with just over 38 million medical members, a 1.39 million increase from 36.67 million in third quarter 2014. It's important to note that UnitedHealth's Medicare Supplement membership of over 4 million is not included in this assessment. Anthem enrolled over 37.8 million medical members, including over 5.4 million BlueCard members, an increase of 3.2% year-over-year. In addition, for the purposes of this assessment, MFA excluded approximately 851,000 Medicare Supplement lives from Anthem's total medical membership.
HCSC saw a slight increase of 74,065 total medical members, year-over-year. The company covered over 14.5 million people as of September 30, 2015. Cigna and Kaiser also reported increases in their medical membership for third quarter 2015 however Aetna and Humana experienced enrollment declines. Aetna reported a decrease of 154,000 members, reflecting declines in its Commercial Insured products with a total 3Q15 medical membership of 22.9 million when compared to 23.1 million during the same period in 2014. Humana's medical membership decreased from 9.68 million in 3Q14 to 9.51 million in 3Q15. The company experienced a 4.3% increase in risk-based enrollment but its ASO business declined by nearly 10%. MFA excluded an estimated 156,000 Medicare Supplement lives from Humana's individual membership.
Profit margins for the majority of the seven health plans were generally favorable for third quarter 2015 when compared to third quarter 2014. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, Aetna reported a profit margin of 4.8%, an increase from 4.4% in third quarter 2014. Anthem's profit margin was 4.03%, up from 3.76% in 3Q14 primarily due to improved operating results in its Commercial, Specialty and Government Business segments. UnitedHealth's operating margin remained consistent at 5.89% year-over-year. Kaiser's 3Q15 operating margin was 4.22%, down from 7.26% in the third quarter of 2014.
To read the full text of "Marginal 3Q15 Enrollment Increase of 3.3 Million Members for Top Health Plans", visit the Analysis Briefs library on Mark Farrah Associates' website.
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™, Medicare Benefits Analyzer™, Health Coverage Portal™, County Health Coverage™, Health Insurer Insights™, and Health Plans USA™.
Contacts:
Mark Farrah Associates
Ann Marie Wolfe, 412-944-2417
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SOURCE Mark Farrah Associates
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