Big Profits (Again) For Florida's HMOs

According to an article published in the South Florida Business Journal titled "Commercial HMOs report healthy profit margins" , the commercial business lines of Florida HMOs had a combined profit margin of 4.1 percent in 2012, down from 4.2 percent in 2011. That was still the second-highest profit margin of the past five years. Some health plans were more profitable than others with United Healthcare leading the way at 10.8 percent. Let's not forget that despite these gains the real money in HMOs isn't on the commercial side, but in Medicare Advantage plans.In this market Florida's Medicare HMOs had a combined profit margin of 8 percent in 2012, up from 7.4 percent in 2011. This SHOULD trigger a debate in Congress over whether Medicare HMOs are overpaid and WHY physicians are receiving a shrinking share of this profit pie. What do you think? Yours Bernd