KENNEBUNK, Maine, Nov. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- In the latest Healthcare Business Strategy report, Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), www.markfarrah.com, assessed second quarter 2015 enrollment and profitability for Aetna, Cigna, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), Humana, Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealth Group and Anthem. MFA reported that total medical membership of the leading companies grew by 3%, as these companies collectively added nearly 4.3 million members since 2Q14. Year-over-year profitability also increased for most plans. Membership data, financial statistics and observations were gleaned from the October 2015 Health Insurer Insights™ series, a Mark Farrah Associates™ publication.
Industry leaders continue to demonstrate favorable enrollment performance in the midst of health care reform. Top health insurers realized net gains in the total number enrolled in Commercial, Medicare and Medicaid plans during the first six months of 2015 with many top plans continuing to experience increases in both risk and ASO enrollment. As of June 30, 2015, UnitedHealth reported 37.8 million medical members, a 1.3 million increase from 36.5 million during the same period in 2014. It's important to note that UnitedHealth's Medicare Supplement membership of approximately 4 million is not included in their medical membership total. Anthem enrolled nearly 37.6 million total medical members, an increase of 3.4% year-over-year. Anthem includes 5.4 million BlueCard members as well as approximately 852,000 Medicare Supplement lives in their individual segment reporting.
Aetna reported total membership of 23 million as of June 30, 2015, a 2% increase year-over-year, reflecting growth in its Commercial ASC, Medicare and Medicaid products. For 2Q15, HCSC covered 14.7 million members experiencing an increase in risk-based enrollment of 6.1% and a decline of 2.4% in its ASO business. Humana's total medical membership for second quarter 2015 was 9.6 million including an estimated 153,000 Medicare Supplement lives. Humana saw a 7.8% increase in risk-based enrollment but experienced a 10% decline in ASO membership primarily due to the loss of certain large group ASO accounts.
Profit margins for the majority of the seven health plans were mostly favorable for second quarter 2015 when compared to second quarter 2014. Aetna reported a profit margin of 5.1%, an increase of 11% from the prior year. Anthem's profit margin was 4.4%, up from 3.9% in 2Q14 primarily due to higher operating revenues in the company's Government Business segment.
UnitedHealth's profit margin was 6%, up from 5.44% in second quarter 2014. The company partly attributed the increase to a combination of strong growth across the business along with improved medical cost management and increased productivity. Although Kaiser Permanente's second quarter 2015 profit margin was 6.6%, down from 7.5% the prior year, the company outperformed other top plans in terms of profit margin.
To read the full text of "Top Health Insurers Experienced Enrollment Gains of 4.3 Million Members for 2nd Quarter 2015", visit the Analysis Briefs 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™, 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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