Dive Brief:
- Anthem has risen up to become the largest health plan in the country, unseating UnitedHealth Group, the former holder of that position, according to a new report by Mark Farrah Associates.
- The group's analysis included enrollment and profitability data for seven major insurers: Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Health Care Services Corp., Humana, Kaiser Permanente and UnitedHealth.
- UnitedHealth stood out as the only insurer of that set to experience an enrollment dip in 2014, which brought it down to second place.
Dive Insight:
Who gets the title as the top insurer depends whether analysts include Medicare Supplement plans, the Mark Farrah Associates report elaborates.
Without Medigap included, Anthem's membership went up 1.9% to 37.5 million while United's membership went down to 36.8 million.
When Medigap plans are included in the count, UnitedHealth remains at the top with 41.6 million U.S. members among its commercial, Medicaid and Medicare customers.
Remaining in third place is Aetna, with 23.1 million members as of late 2014.