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September 23, 2014 at 10:44 AM
A shift toward individual commercial health coverage, and away from group health coverage, that showed up in first-quarter major medical enrollment results may have accelerated — dramatically — in the second quarter.
WellPoint (NYSE:WLP) increased individual enrollment just 7.37 percent between March 31 and June 30, to 2.3 million, but other leading sellers of individual major medical coverage reported much bigger gains in individual plan enrollment, according to a new report from SNL Financial.
Tom Mason, an SNL analyst, has used quarterly insurance company statutory statements, and managed care company enrollment data filed with the California Department of Managed Health Care, to show what happened to individual enrollment at 10 leading health insurers. He is careful to emphasize the limits of the data. He includes only carriers that file as health insurers, not those that file as life insurers.
Mason’s numbers include results for major medical coverage that complies with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) but was sold outside the new PPACA public exchange system as well as PPACA exchange plans, “grandfathered plans” (plans governed mostly by the rules in effect in early 2010), and “grandmothered plans” (plans governed mostly by the rules in effect in late 2013).
Mason also includes data from one obvious outlier: Luxottica Group S.p.A. Luxottica sells vision insurance plans. The company shows up in Mason’s report because it files enrollment data with the California Department of Managed Health Care, and SNL has no practical way to filter major medical plan enrollment data from the other types of managed care plan data the department collects.
But Mason has the numbers for the quarter ending June 30 — after the individual health insurance open enrollment period ended. Up till now, other public sources of 2014 health insurance enrollment information have been depending on data from the first quarter of 2014 or the last quarter of 2013. The Census Bureau, for example, recently published data suggesting that, by the end of 2013, use of individual health coverage had jumped to the highest levels since the 1970s, and that enrollment in employer-sponsored coverage had fallen to the lowest level since 1997.
See also: Individual health gains as group health shrinks
To view the full results, including the number of people enrolled in individual coverage June 30, the number enrolled March 31, and the number enrolled Dec. 31, 2013, ranked in terms of second-quarter 2014 enrollment, read on.
Individual enrollment, June 30, 2014: 2,307,011
Individual enrollment, March 31, 2014: 2,148,681
Individual enrollment, Dec. 31, 2013: 1,985,083
Percent change between March 31, 2014, and June 30, 2014: 7.37%
Source: SNL Financial
Image: A beach in La Jolla, CA. (AP photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
No. 2: Health Care Service Corp.
Individual enrollment, June 30, 2014: 1,675,860
Individual enrollment, March 31, 2014: 1,208,427
Individual enrollment, Dec. 31, 2013: 888,080
Percent change between March 31, 2014, and June 30, 2014: 38.7%
Health Care Service Corp. is the parent company of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and many other Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.
Source: SNL Financial
Image: Wrigley Field, IL.
Individual enrollment, June 30, 2014: 1,189,253
Individual enrollment, March 31, 2014: 729,765
Individual enrollment, Dec. 31, 2013: -
Percent change between March 31, 2014, and June 30, 2014: 63%
Source: SNL Financial
Image: Louisville, KY.
Individual enrollment, June 30, 2014: 868,255
Individual enrollment, March 31, 2014: 462,745
Individual enrollment, Dec. 31, 2013: 379,727
Percent change between March 31, 2014, and June 30, 2014: 87.6%
Source: SNL Financial
Image: Hartford, CT.
No. 5: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
Individual enrollment, June 30, 2014: 731,436
Individual enrollment, March 31, 2014: 602,829
Individual enrollment, Dec. 31, 2013: 202,677
Percent change between March 31, 2014, and June 30, 2014: 21.3%
Source: SNL Financial
