American Medical Might Grow

By Allison Bell

August 06, 2003 at 08:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, Aug. 6, 2003, 4:57 p.m. EDT – Enrollment at American Medical Security Group Inc., Green Bay, Wis., might start growing soon for the first time in many quarters, the company says.

The health insurer is reporting $6.8 million in net income for the second quarter on $187 million in revenue, compared with $5.2 million in net income on $200 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2002.

American Medical ended the quarter insuring or administering medical coverage for 317,891 people, down from 362,733 people a year earlier.

But the company, which focuses on the individual, family and small group markets, averaged $638 in premium revenue per insured member, up 8.9%, and the big news may be that American Medical executives felt confident enough about enrollment to put current and prior year enrollment figures in the same press release.

American Medical has been shrinking since the company now known as Cobalt Corp., Milwaukee, spun it off as a separate company in 1998.

But American Medical health enrollment fell only 1% between the first and second quarters of 2003, and that's the smallest quarter-on-quarter decline in three years, the company says. "Our performance in terms of membership and revenue is still not up to our expectations," says American Medical Executive Vice President John Lombardi.

But trends in sales and retention suggest the company could start increasing enrollment by the end of the year, Lombardi says.

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