Page 18 - BusinessWest September 28, 2020
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Insurance
At a Premium
Health Insurers Navigate — Sometimes Profitably — an Unusual Year
TBy Joseph Bednar
he story is a familiar one by now: hospitals across the U.S., ham- mered by COVID-19, began directing resources toward fighting the pandemic last spring and curtailed elective and non-emergency procedures. Meanwhile, patients, even when sick, stayed away from medical practices out of fear of infection.
As a result, health insurers continued to reap premiums while paying out mil- lions of dollars less in medical claims. Some of the largest companies reported second-quarter earnings about double what they were a year ago. Anthem’s net income soared to $2.3 billion for the second quarter, up from $1.1 billion in 2019, while UnitedHealth reported net income of $6.7 billion, compared to $3.4 billion
18 SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 INSURANCE BusinessWest
