Beginning with this edition of PULSE, Sherlock Company has begun coverage of Triple-S Management Corp. The company, based in Puerto Rico, is like WellPoint, a publicly traded Blue Plan.
Four firms reduced their estimates for the year. In the wake of industry stock price declines other firms affirmed their earlier earnings estimates.
Universal writes down its investments in Mortgage-Backed securities by 9.9%. Mortgage backed securities comprise, on average, 7.9% of total investments by publicly traded health plans.
Sherlock Company recently distributed survey materials to 23 participating Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans. Sherlock Company benchmarks help health plans identify whether they operate at best practice and which functional areas provide the greatest returns on management efforts to enhance plan performance. Nearly 50 plans in various universes are expected to participate in the 2008 study.
On average, health plan stock prices declined 23.7% for the month. All fourteen of the health plans had decreases in stock prices. Valuation indicators declined for the month of March.
Centene announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase the Celtic Group, Inc., the parent company of Celtic Insurance Company for approximately $80.0 million. Humana announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire OSF HealthPlan, Inc., a subsidiary of OSF Saint Francis, Inc., for $90.5 million in cash, of which $25.0 million is excess cash.
One of the fourteen publicly-traded health plans announced earnings last month. Sierra Health Services, Inc. experienced a decline in its quarterly net income by 37.0% and saw a 2.1% decrease for the year as a whole.
Humana repurchased approximately 1.5 million of its common shares as of March 19th.
On March 10th, WellCare Health Plans, Inc. announced effective on or about April 1st that Thomas F. O’Neill III has been appointed to Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary.
Features upcoming earning announcements as of April 1, 2008.
Health plans manage their investment portfolio to supplement operating earnings and maintain a financial cushion in the event of insolvency. In this month’s insert we look at the composition of public health plans portfolios and what operating characteristics drive investment decisions.
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