Health Insurance Blog

Based solely on national market share, the “top”  (i.e. largest membership base) Medicare Supplement providers in the country in 2008-2009 were as follows:

1.  United Healthcare (driven by AARP contract) 29% market share

2.  Wellpoint  8%

3.  Mutual of Omaha 6%

4.  Health Care Services Corp.  5%

5.  Conseco 4%

As you can see, the five largest carriers account for 52% market share, and the remaining 48% is captured by dozens if not hundreds of smaller companies.

When Medicare Advantage and other Medicare products are factored into the mix, like prescription drug plans (PDP), the top four companies would be AARP, Humana, Wellpoint and Universal American respectively.

In US News and World Reports recent ranking of the the nations top health insurance plans, CIGNA HealthCare Mid-Atlantic was rated as the top health plan in Virginia.  The US News rankings are based on member satisfaction, as well as their effectiveness in both preventing and treating illnesses.

According to the report the top 5 Commercial Health Plans in Virginia were:

1. CIGNA HealthCare Mid-Atlantic
2. Optima Health Plan
3. Southern Health Services
4. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States
5. UnitedHealthcare Plan of the River Valley

CIGNA HealthCare Mid-Atlantic ranked 42nd nationally out of more than 600 health plans that participated in the report.

More information about Virginia health insurance.

According to US News and World Reports’ annual rankings of Idaho health insurance plans, Group Health Cooperative is the top plan in the state for 2009-2010.  The report included the top 4 health plans in Idaho as seen below.

1. Group Health Cooperative
2. SelectHealth
3. Group Health Options (Options)
4. Group Health Options (Alliant)

When compared against the entire country, Group Health Cooperative ranked 76th out of more than 600 commercial health plans that provided data to be included in Report.  An additional 120 health plans did not wish to be included in the report or otherwise did not provide requested data.

According to a recent research report written by Debra A. Donahue of Mark Farrah and Associates, the individual health insurance marketplace is growing.  As of the end of Q2 2009, national individual health insurance enrollment totaled about 9.7 Million, up from about 9.6 Million from the previous year.  This enrollment does not include those individuals enrolled in Medicare Health Plans, or other state sponsored Programs.  Part of this growth is being fueled by high unemployment rates and less people having access to group sponsored plans.

The report makes it crystal clear that Wellpoint is the largest and most dominant player in the individual health insurance marketplace, albeit partly due to their large geographic footprint, covering 15 states.

The top 5 health plans ranked by enrollment in individual health plans include:

1. Wellpoint - with enrollment of over 2.25 Million (23% market share)
2. HCSC (Health Care Services Corporation) - 670,000 (7%)
3. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida - 370,000 (4%)
4. Kaiser Foundation Health Plans - 344,000 (4%), down 12% from previous year
5. Humana - 336,000 (4%), up 28% from previous year

Humana increased the number of states it offered it HumanaOne individual health insurance plan from 15 states to 24 states in March 2008, which accounted for their large increase in enrollment.

Wellpoint and HCSC are both health insurance companies that offer Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Plans in multiple states.  Wellpoint includes 15 BCBS licensees, and HCSC 4.

In the recent US News and World Report annual health plan rankings report, two health plans offered by Highmark ranked as being among the best health plans in the nation.

• SecurityBlue, HighMark’s Medicare Advantage HMO ranked #32 among Medicare Health Plans
• Among Commercial HMOs, Keystone Blue (offered by Highmark subsidiary Keystone Health Plan West) ranked 47th

Both of the above health plans were rated as excellent.

More information about:  Pennsylvania Health Insurance, Medicare Advantage Plans, HighMark BlueShield

US News and World Report recently released their updated health plan rankings for 2009-2010.  Their rankings of Medicare Health Plans was as follows, with 2008 ranking in parenthesis.

1. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado (8)
2. Fallon Community Health Plan (Not In Top 10)
3. Geisinger Health Plan (3)
4. Tufts Associated Health Maintenance Organization (10)
5. Capital Health Plan (7)
6. MVP Health Care (Not in Top 10)
7. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Northwest (Not in Top 10)
8. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Southern California (2)
9. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Northwest (Demonstration Project) (NR)
10. Capital District Health Plan (9)

In 2008, Preferred Care was the top rated Medicare Health Plan by US News.  In this years study, they failed to make the top 10.  Kaiser Foundation Health Plans fared very well in the 2009-2010 study, with 4 of their regional plans being ranked among the top 10 plans in the country, with the Colorado plan occupying the top spot.

According to US News and World Report, Capital Health Plan, an affiliate of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, is the top rated Medicare Health Plan in Florida.

Founded in 1982, Capital Health Plan serves the four county are surrounding Tallahassee.  They currently provide coverage to more than 110,000 members.

More information about Florida health insurance & senior health insurance.

Open enrollment for Medicare Advantage plans is rapidly approaching (November 15 - December 31).  We thought we’d blog about some of the top rated plans in each state according to US News and World Reports annual rankings.

In California, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan boasts the 2 top ranked plans in the state. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Southern California was the top rated Medicare health plan in California with an overall score of 88.1, followed by Kaiser’s plan covering Northern California (86.8).  These two plans were followed by Health Net of California (83.2), Pacificare of California (81.7) and Aetna Health of California (80.4).

None of the twenty California Medicare Plans ranked in this study received a customer assessment score of greater than three stars out of five.  However, both Kaiser plans faired very well in both treatment and prevention measures, with five stars.

More information about California health insurance.

The article “Leading insurance grievance: delays in claims handling” by Becky Yerak on chicagotribune.com states that Illinois consumers have been filing less complaints about their health, auto and homeowners insurance companies. 

Illinois health insurance complaints were down 13%, auto insurance complaints were down 10%, and homeowners insurance was down 5%.  The complaint ratios, which compare the number of complaints with every $1 million in policies, vary widely among insurance companies.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners released the study showing that the leading complaint was because of delays in handling of claims at 18.7%.  The next most common complaint was claims denials which was around 18.2%. 

Consumers complained most often about accident and health insurance coverage at 37.5% of complaints.  Auto insurance accounted for about 35% and homeowners insurance only accounted for 12.5% of all of the complaints.

The September issue of Consumer Reports ranks the top PPOs and HMOs in the country.  In all, 41 PPOs were rated as well as 35 HMOs.  The ratings were based on surveys of 37,000 respondents.

Some of the findings included in the report inlcude:

• Median health insurance premiums were $1,829 (up 38% from two years ago).  PPO members paid $2,003 on average, while HMO members paid $1,466.
• The highest rated PPO health insurance plan was Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Connecticut
• The highest rated HMO was Group Health of Idaho & Washington
• 64% of respondents were very or completely satisfied with their health insurance carrier.  10% were dissatisfied.