The Virginian-Pilot
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WellPoint dominated Virginia's commercial health insurance market last year, according to recent state filings.
Three of WellPoint's companies doing business in Virginia held a combined 50 percent market share in both the amount of premiums collected and people covered, according to a report from the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance.
The companies - Anthem Health Plans of Virginia Inc., Healthkeepers Inc. andUniCare Life and Health Insurance Co. - collected $4.1 billion in premiums and listed more than 1 million people on their books on Dec. 31.
Sentara Health Management Group, the insurance arm of Norfolk-based Sentara Healthcare, ranked third behind CareFirst Inc., which is the parent company of affiliates doing business as CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in the mid-Atlantic region.
Overall, Sentara brought in about $685 million from premiums and covered more than 170,000 people on the one-day December snapshot. Its two companies, Optima Health Plan and Optima Health Insurance Co., together held a market share of around 8 percent in each category.
WellPoint, based in Indianapolis, was formed in a 2004 merger between WellPoint Health Networks and Anthem. It is the largest insurer in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
This year, because of the national health law, health insurers were required to file more detailed information than in prior years to Virginia's Bureau of Insurance and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
The filings include information about plans underwritten by insurers, as well as the Federal Employees Health Benefits program.
Not included are plans covering dental or vision only, Medicare, Medicaid and "self-insured" contracts - those in which the insurer administers health coverage for a company that assumes the financial risk. An estimated 2.1 million Virginians are covered through self-insured contracts, said Doug Gray, executive director of the Virginia Association of Health Plans.
According to the filings, commercial health insurers collected nearly $8.4 billion in premiums from individual and group plans in Virginia last year. Those plans covered about 2.1 million people as of Dec. 31.
Nearly 50 groups based in 25 states offered health coverage to Virginians through 86 companies, according to the report.
Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com
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Will Further Investigation be Conducted?
Is there any way to check the health care RFP's of VBCPS and the City. They have combined the groups and are self-insured. Sentara/Optima has been the exclusive carrier of health care for employees. In the not too distant past, the argument has been that they receive only one bid. If our goal is to reduce health care costs, it would seem to me that competing plans would benefit not only the employee but the employer.
Which brings me to Carolyn Weems' letter on Sunday's editorial page... the statement about the public's eyes glassing over during budget talks. IMHO, it is the School board that has dropped the ball on understanding the budget...especially in the area of spending...and health care is but one example.