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Benefits January 7, 2003
HMO Enrollment Down in Sunshine State
January 7, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Enrollment in
Florida HMOs continued their wane in the first half of 2002,
declining 6.6%, after seeing a decrease of 2.2% in 2001,
according to findings in the Florida Managed Care Review
2002.
Reported by Eric Hazard
There are now 451,000 fewer enrollees in Florida HMOs than at the end of 2000, according to the report at Allan Baumgarten’s Managed Care Reviews. Most of the decrease (687,000) came in commercial plans, as employers, reeling from three years of double-digit premium increases sought other plan options or stopped offering coverage altogether.
Additionally, the number of seniors enrolled in HMO Medicare plans saw a decrease by 163,000, as some HMOs exited that line of business, dropped key service areas or changed their benefit design. However, during this period enrollment in HMOs by Medicaid and Healthy Kids recipients grew by 380,000.
Premium Increase
Premium increases continued their assent in 2001, as HMOs collected an average of $165.44 in premium revenue per commercial member per month. That is an increase of 11.4% from $148.53 in 2000.
Not surprisingly, in the first six months of 2002, Florida HMOs had a net income of $77.7 million with all but seven HMOs reporting a positive net income. This is a significant improvement over recent years that have seen Florida HMOs loss $441 million from 1997 to 2001, according to the report.