Health insurance is probably the most important amongst all insurance policies. I am starting this blog by compiling a list of top health insurance companies in the United States. There are 803 health insurance companies in United States (Source: Insurance Information Institute) which provide major medical insurance.
Covering them all in one blog post is an impossible task. Because health insurance industry is highly concentrated, due more than 400 mergers carried out by leading insurers, major health insurance companies have the market cornered. So I will start by covering the top health insurance companies in this blog post. This list constitutes of those health insurance companies which have a country wide or broad presence and are major players in this industry.
List of Top Health Insurance Companies
Property & Casualty and Life and Health insurance companies also write health insurance. But we are not covering these companies in this blog post.
UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare (part of UnitedHealth Group) is the largest single health carrier in the United States. The company offers health insurance to 70 million Americans. It has a nationwide network of more than 700,000 doctors and healthcare professionals, 80,000 dentists, and more than 5,600 hospitals. The company has presence in all 50 states. It offers individual health insurance in all markets.
UnitedHealthcare was created in 1977. The company’s healthcare plans can be divided into the following broad categories.
- UnitedHealthcare Community & State for state Medicaid and community programs.
- UnitedHealthcare Employer & Individual for employers health insurance.
- UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement. This category has plans for major senior health benefits.
- UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans for serving military personnel and their families.
The parent company, UnitedHealth Group is listed on NASDAQ stock exchange. The company earned a revenue of $110 billion in financial year ending 31 December 2012.
Aetna Inc
Aetna Inc is the second largest health insurance company in the United States. The company offers a range of health insurance products. The company has a wide variety of plans from traditional medical, pharma, and dental plans to new innovative plans like behavioural health. Aetna has a wide member base of approximately 18 million medical members, 13 million dental members, and 9 million pharmacy members. The insurer’s health care network includes 1 million health care professionals, 600,000 primary care doctors and specialists and 5400 hospitals.
Aetna Inc has separate companies for student health insurance and expat health insurance products. The company has presence in all 50 states. It serves individuals in certain markets only.
Aetna Inc is listed on New York stock exchange. The company earned a revenue of approximately $35.5 billion during financial year 2012. In terms of revenue Aetna Inc is about one third the size of largest health carrier UnitedHealthcare.
Anthem
Cigna
Coventy
Humana
Wellpoint
BlueCross BlueShield