A few years ago, around 2000 and 2001, it seemed as if U.S. health insurers talked a lot about commercial health plan customers and a little about their Medicare and Medicaid operations.
When health insurers did talk about their Medicare operations, it was mainly to apologize for not getting out of Medicare + Choice — the precursor to the Medicare Advantage program — fast enough, and, in some cases, to apologize for getting companies stuck in the Medicare + Choice program to start with.
The health insurers also would wax eloquently how they would never, ever let themselves rely so heavily on government program spending ever again.
It seems as if, in the health insurance universe, “forever” lasts about 11 years.