Health Insurance Membership Increased

Press Release

Membership in health plans for the health insurance industry’ s leading health care companies (such as Blue Cross Blue Shield etc. ) grew by 3.2% from 2nd quarter 2006 to 2nd quarter 2007.

ASO enrollment (members in self-insured employer plans for which insurers provide administrative services only) grew at a rate of 6.5% while risk-based membership increased by less than 1% during the year.

MFA analyzed enrollment trends among eight top health insurers — Aetna, CIGNA, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), Health Net, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealth Group, and WellPoint.

Aggregate ASO enrollment for these companies grew by more than 3 million members over the year, while risk membership grew by only 285,000.

This has been the trend in recent years, as employer-sponsored plans have moved away from risk-based arrangements.

Further analysis shows that among the top competitors, only Health Net saw an overall decline in membership since the end of the 2nd quarter 2006.