MFA reports that senior and Medicaid markets drive health enrollment gains

The nation's leading health insurers saw an aggregate increase of 363,000 members for the first six months of 2010. Declining commercial enrollment was offset primarily by gains in products offered to seniors and growth in Medicaid business. Administrative Services Only (ASO) enrollment gained 1.4 million members from December 2009 to June 2010. All of the leading health plans saw year-over-year profitability improvement.

“Senior and Medicaid Markets Driving Health Enrollment Gains”

Mark Farrah Associates (MFA), a leading provider of market data and intelligence solutions, found -- for the seven leading U.S. health insurers -- aggregate membership was up 363,000 members from 125.2 million members at year-end 2009. For these top insurers, combined Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage enrollment increased by 724,000 members between 4Q09 and 2Q10 offsetting some of the 766,000 membership decline experienced in the Commercial sector. Medicaid enrollment increased 405,000 for the same period.

UnitedHealth, reported total enrollment gains year-over-year, from 1Q10 to 2Q10 and from December 2009 to June 2010, when it picked up 545,000 new enrollees. Close to 10% of UnitedHealth's health benefits membership is from Medicaid, and from 2Q09 to 2Q10 the company added 435,000 Medicaid members. CIGNA also reported growth in all three periods, adding 98,000 Medicare Advantage members in the first quarter of 2010.

All of the top plans saw profit margin improvements when comparing the first half of 2010 to the first half of 2009.

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 40% of the total population in the nation. Membership data, financial statistics and observations were gleaned from the October 2010 Health Insurer Insights™ series.

To read the full text of "Senior and Medicaid Markets Driving Health Enrollment Gains," visit the Healthcare Business Strategy library on Mark Farrah Associates' website www.markfarrah.com.