State's HMOs report profit
9:17 PM 6/07/04
Associated Press

Wisconsin's health maintenance organizations posted a $44 million profit for the first quarter of 2004, the state Insurance Commissioner's Office reported Monday. <

Twenty HMOs made money in the quarter, with profits ranging from $7,567 for Medical Associates Clinic Health Plan of Wisconsin to $18.3 million for Touchpoint Health Plan. <

Touchpoint's profit was boosted when United HealthCare of Wisconsin acquired its HMO and point-of-service businesses for $40 million in March, said Phil Dougherty, deputy director of the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans. <

One HMO lost money in the quarter. Managed Health lost $207,047. <

HMOs' hospital and medical expenses increased 3.7 percent on a per-member-per-month basis from the first quarter of 2003, according to WAHP. <

HMOs make up 53 percent of Wisconsin's commercial health insurance market, which excludes Medicare and Medicaid participants and people covered under employer-sponsored self-insured plans. <

Wisconsin's HMOs have been slowly improving their financial health after losing a combined $58.5 million in 1999, their worst-ever financial year. <