WellPoint Seizes Lead in Cheap U.S. Health Insurance (Update2)
By Avram Goldstein
June 14 (Bloomberg) -- Aetna Inc. and WellPoint Inc. are competing to sell no-frills health plans to a generation of so- called young immortals, Americans ages 18 to 34 who don't have medical insurance because they doubt they'll need it.
Aetna, WellPoint and about 160 other U.S. insurance providers see future sales growth in these 19 million young adults. The companies are offering policies with monthly premiums of $39 to $160, hundreds less than other plans. Insurers keep costs low by requiring customers to pay as much as $5,000 of their medical bills before coverage kicks in.
WellPoint, the top U.S. provider of individual health plans, may gain the most from the expanding market. Young adults are the fastest-growing segment of the 45 million Americans without medical coverage. If everyone in the group bought a policy, insurers would gain $25 billion in annual sales, said Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst with CRT Capital Group LLC.
``I don't know how any self-respecting, for-profit, shareholder-owned company can leave that kind of market share and profit on the table,'' said Skolnick, in Stamford, Connecticut.
The companies pitching plans to young adults include UnitedHealth Group Inc. of Minnetonka, Minnesota, the largest U.S. insurer; WellPoint of Indianapolis; Aetna, of Hartford, Connecticut; and the San Francisco-based nonprofit Blue Shield of California. Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp. and Medica, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit, plan to join the competition...
bloomberg.com
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