Taking Your Insurer's Pulse

While group health insurance and public supported plans such as Medicare and Medicaid dominate the bulk of the health insurer membership, the private individual health insurance market is steadily growing. Insurers have increased their focus on this segment in the last few years as employer coverage becomes too expensive, pre-Medicare eligible retirees seek coverage, and the self-employed and previously uninsured look for cheaper alternatives.

The table below lists the health insurers with the largest enrollment in private individual plans in 2005. The Blues dominate this market, and with few exceptions the firms show year-over-year increases in enrollment, including Wellpoint's Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical with over a 16% year-over-year increase in individual membership from 120,464 to 140,412 and Highmark's Pennsylvania Blue Shield growing 9.4% to 122,688 members.

The latest trend in product design, high-deductible health plans (or HDHPs) that can be combined with a health savings account (HSA), is driving some of this growth. America's Health Insurance Plans reported earlier this month that 1.1 million individuals were covered by such plans as of January 2007, representing a 29 percent increase over last year.

While the various BCBS plans are focused on this product line, other heavy weights include UnitedHealth Group (UNH Quote) via its Golden Rule unit, Aetna (AET Quote), Cigna (CI Quote), and Humana (HUM Quote).

Below is the list of the insurers with the largest number of members enrolled in private individual health insurance plans as of year-end 2005. Included in the list is the financial strength rating assigned by TheStreet.com Ratings team based on data through the third quarter of 2006.

Insurers with the Largest Membership in Private Individual Health Plans
Insurer	Group	Annual Health Premiums (billions)	2005 Private Individual Membership	2004 Private Individual Membership	Financial Strength Rating
Health Care Svc Corp (IL)*	HCSC Group	$11.70	565,698	Not available	A+
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc (CA)	Kaiser Foundation	$29.20	378,672	411,886	B+
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida		$4.00	321,594	Not available	B+
Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC		$3.20	319,916	305,428	A-
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia	Wellpoint Inc.	$2.50	269,378	287,555	A+
Anthem Health Plans of Virginia (VA) (dba Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia)	Wellpoint Inc.	$3.30	220,662	Not available	A-
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota		$2.20	161,152	146,981	B+
LA Health Service & Indemnity Co (dba Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana)	Louisiana Health Services	$1.30	153,391	148,644	A
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona		$1.10	152,511	140,769	A+
Rocky Mountain Hospital & Medical	Wellpoint Inc.	$1.00	140,412	120,464	A
Anthem Health Plans of Kentucky	Wellpoint Inc.	$1.50	130,499	122,396	A+
Highmark Inc (PA) (dba Pennsylvania Blue Shield)		$4.20	122,688	112,134	B
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (MI)		$5.50	117,614	108,465	A
Carefirst Of Maryland Inc (dba Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland)	Carefirst Inc	$1.40	112,228	110,147	B+
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (TN)		$2.20	110,625	91,542	A+
Data culled from companies statutory financial statements. * Does business as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico Review based on insurers filing the NAIC Health or the California Health Care Service Plan financial form. Other health insurers filing different forms are not included in this review.