Insurance companies took in 7 percent more revenue from premiums from individual, group and other policies in 2009 than in the previous year, even as the number of people with coverage fell, the Insurance Journal reports.
According to a new report released by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, total premiums increased by 15 percent to $214 billion and the number of policies increased by 2.6 percent from 2008 to 2009. NAIC also found that the top 10 companies accounted for 45.5 percent of the overall market's business in 2009 and that the number of covered lives decreased by 7 percent from 2008 to 2009.
"The takeaway message probably is that as we're working to implement this new insurance reform, healthcare costs continue to go up, which does drive up the cost of insurance," Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger told the Insurance Journal. "Premiums don't just go up without the evidence demonstrating that healthcare costs are going up."
In the Accident and Health Policy Experience Report, NAIC aggregated countrywide and company-level premium information, loss ratios, number of policies, number of covered lives and market share.
To learn more:
- read the NAIC press release
- read a sample of the report
- read the Insurance Journal article