Top 25 USA largest Health Insurance Companies

The USA's 25 largest health insurance companies:

In 2009, the largest health insurance companies in the United States collected approximately $650 billion in premiums. The largest 25 (ranked by market share) accounted for over 60% of the total.







According to the NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners), the top 25 health insurance companies in the USA in 2011 were: 

• Unitedhealth Group
• Wellpoint Inc. Group
• Kaiser Foundation Group
• Aetna Group
• Humana Group
• HCSC Group
• Coventry Corp. Group
• Highmark Group
• Independence Blue Cross Group
• Blue Shield of CA Group
• Cigna Health Group
• BCBS of MI Group
• Health Net of California, Inc.
• BCBS of NJ Group
• BCBS of FL Group
• Regence Group
• BCBS of MA Group
• Carefirst Inc. Group
• Wellcare Group
• HIP Ins. Group
• Metropolitan Group
• Unumprovident Corp. Group
• Universal Amer Fin Corp. Group
• Lifetime Healthcare Group
• BCBS of NC Group

American health insurance premiums rose rapidly in ten years

Health insurance premium costs rose by 113% in the USA from 2001 to 2011. In 2011, a Kaiser Survey showed that the number of people with health insurance dropped by about 20 million in 2011 compared to 2010. In order to cope with rapidly rising premium costs, millions of people are opting for larger deductibles.

Recessions can often be good for health insurance company finances

If insured individuals keep up their premium patients, but seek medical help less, health insurance companies make more money because they spend less. It is ironic that during recessions, as people struggle financially and put off medical care, insurance companies get richer faster.

In 2011, two health insurance companies - Cigna and UnitedHealth Group said fewer people were staying in hospitals, hospital stays were of shorter duration, and medical use was down.

In 2011 many premium payers, insurance experts, economists and health care professionals wondered why the insurance industry was demanding higher premiums if their profits were shooting up . The insurance industry said it was so that they could prepare for a sudden rush in demand, which they claim would be considerable when the recession was over.

What health care coverage insurance systems exist in other countries?

Australia - has a combination of a public health system, called Medicare, and private health insurance organizations. Medicare provides free universal access to hospital care, as well as subsidized non-hospital medical treatment.

Canada - has a publicly funded universal healthcare system, which is nearly all free at the point of use. Most of the public health services are provided by private organizations. Approximately 27.6% of Canadian citizen's health care requirements are received through the private sector. Private health insurance is used to cover services that Medicare does not provide for, such as optometry, dentistry and prescription medications. Three-quarters of all Canadians have some type of supplementary private health coverage - many get this as a job perk.

A report issued in May 2012 by researchers from the Universities of Toronto and British Columbia found that about 10% of Canadians are not able to take their prescription drugs as directed because they cannot afford it.

France - The French public health insurance program was established in 1945 and its coverage for its affiliates have undergone many changes since then. 

All working French citizens have to contribute from a portion of their salaries to a not-for-profit health insurance fund, which mutualizes the illness risk, and reimburses patients at different rates. Insured people's spouses and offspring are eligible to be covered in the same policies. Each fund is financially autonomous, and is used to pay for medical expenses at pre-arranged prices. Recent reforms have harmonized many prices and benefits provided by different insurance funds.

Germany - this country has Europe's longest-standing universal healthcare system, which started during the last 20 years of the 19th century. 85% of German citizens are covered by a basic health insurance policy which the state provides - this provides "a standard level of coverage". 15% have chosen private health insurance plans. WHO (World Health Organization) says 77% of Germany's health care system is state-funded while 23% comes from the private sector.

Japan - the country has an Employees Health Insurance and a National Health Insurance system. The National Health insurance is aimed at those who are not eligible for Employees Health Insurance. Even though the country also has private health insurance, everybody in Japan, including foreigners with a one-year visa must be enrolled in an Employees Health Insurance plan or National Health Insurance.

United Kingdom - the NHS (National Health Service) provides free medical and hospital care and subsidized or free prescription medications to all its citizens. The NHS is a publicly funded universal healthcare system, which is not really an insurance system as no premiums are collected and costs are not charged at patient level. Nevertheless, the NHS achieves the same aim as insurance in spreading financial risk arising from ill-health. All NHS costs are met directly from general taxation.

The UK also has private health care which is paid for mainly by private insurance. Less than 8% of the country's population has any private health insurance. The largest private health insurance companies in the United Kingdom are BUPA, AXA, Aviva, Groupama Healthcare, PruHealth, and WPA.