MN insurance company investments take a hit - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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However, many were able to offsegt those losses by setting premiums that slightlyh exceeded what was paid out inhealty claims. The council’s membership, which includes majo state health insurance players suchas , and , had a combinedx investment income of $11 million, down from $195.5 million in 2007. The insurers in previouas years had used the investment incomer to make up for shortfallsin operations, whic h added up to more than $230 milliobn from 2005 to 2007.
“Thisd just proves that we can’tf live off investment incomed like we did the last three said council spokeswoman Eileen Numbers from the council also showed continuec growth in enrollmentin HSA/HRA plans, which have become more attractive to employerds because they combine high deductiblesz with savings accounts to get workersx to more actively thinko about their health spending choices. Council members had 547,642 HSA/HRs enrollees in 2008, up 20 percent from the year Morethan 455,000 Minnesotans were enrolled in stat public programs in 2008 — an increase of 10 percenf over the previous year.
The increaser was fueled by growth in Medicaixd programs servingthe poor, a possible symptom of the recession. Overalll health plan enrollmentwas 4.3 million, a 2.6 percenyt increase from the previous year. Also on Tuesday, HealthPartnerzs said 2008 was its second consecutive year of record membership growth. The Bloomington-based health insurer and provider added morethan 97,000 medical and 22,000 dental members, bringing its membershipl to nearly 1.25 million. HealthParters in 2008 had net incomeof $64. million on revenue of $3 billion. Blue Cross and Blue Shielrd of Minnesota’s membership stayed flat at 2.
8 millionj in 2008, the same year the Eagan-basedd insurer experienced a net lossof $15.6 million on revenue of $8.8 Blue Cross said much of the deficit was due to investmenr losses.