Four US Health Insurers Post Profits Despite Rising Premiums

Four of the biggest commercial health insurers in Massachusetts booked a sudden rise in profits for the year 2011, reports bostonglobe.com. The financial advantage has come about in a perilous period of rising healthcare costs, when fewer people can afford health insurance.

Health insurance companies Blue Cross Blue Shield, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Plan and Fallon Community Health Plan - in that order - have reaped huge profits.

There's a simple explanation to this - as premiums rise, fewer people seek health insurance. Out of the few who do buy health insurance, a lesser number file claims.

The business of health insurance, after all, depends on minimizing the number of claims settlements. Therefore, insurers are laughing all the way to the bank, reaping the benefits that should have been going to consumers.

According to reports released recently, even executives of the abovesaid companies collected more pay in 2011.

Blue Cross Blue Shield, the state’s largest health insurance company made maximum profit, reporting a net income of $136.1 million last year, more than 10 times the $13.4 million it earned in 2010.

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Harvard Pilgrim Health Care came second with a net income of $93.5 million in 2011, up from $49.6 million in 2010.

Tufts Health Plan posted a net income of $87.6 million last year, an increase from $58.8 million in 2010, whereas, Fallon Community Health Plan reported a net income of $38.5 million last year, rebounding from a loss of $8.8 million the previous year.

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Source-Medindia